Trying to catch 151
by ForgottenTrainer
Summary: After turning thirteen Ash gets his first Pokemon from Professor Oak, but it isn't the Pokemon you might expect and with this Pokemon sets out on a journey, watch as he try's to catch as many Pokemon as he can learning about the world and everything in it as he does. Plot contains elements from anime and a few different mangas. Ash starts off with little knowledge but he learns.
1. Pokémon - I Choose You!

A/N I'm going to say this first, the alternate colouring is possible as in Anime colours other than standard have often been shown and the move is possible though events-I know it's not the best source but still kind of, Mew is event only in gen 1 after all-so it's all possible in the Pokémon world just not likely**. **

Pokémon-Pokémon-Pokémon

Ash had arrived to Professor Oak's place late, arriving just in time to be mocked by Gary-who was leaving last, so clearly was at least a little late himself. Professor Oak had allowed him to enter the lab anyway, and now he was doing it. He was selecting his first Pokémon, the Pokémon that would-in all likelihood-be his partner for his entire journey.

Ash was now looking at his three choices for a Pokémon. He had already made his decision, he was going for Squirtle, the water type, and so with that in mind he reached across and opened it. But nothing came out, when he checked he quickly found that it was in fact empty. "That Pokémon was already taken by someone that was on time" Professor Oak explained simply, still standing completely still with his arms crossed behind his back.

He then reached for his second choice, Bulbasaur the grass type. He pressed the button expecting to see a brand new Pokémon but, once again, nothing appeared. He turned to look at Professor Oak again. "That Pokémon was taken by someone who wasn't late." He stated dryly before continuing to stand still doing absolutely nothing.

Finally he reached for Charmander, it wasn't his first or even second choice, but it was still close so he didn't really mind. He opened and, nothing happened. He glared at Oak who had a philosophical look on his face. "The early bird gets the worm, or in the case the Pokémon"

"Why did you have me open them all just to find nothing?" Ash yelled before he could stop himself. It was just so frustrating, having Professor Oak crushing his dreams by having him to go through all the Pokémon he couldn't have was not pleasant. Fortunately the professor wasn't offended; in fact he didn't even seem to notice.

"Yes I can see how that was a little misleading wasn't it, ha-ha-ha" he laughed to himself making Ash even more annoyed; the professor was clearly enjoying this.

"So do you have any other Pokémon?" Ash asked hopefully no longer caring what he got, as long as it was healthy and a Pokémon it would be good enough.

"Well there is one left but I-"

"I'll take it" Ash yelled not caring about what the problem was.

"Very well" he said activating the mechanism that pushed a poke ball with a small water drop sticker on it up from within the work station. He grabbed the ball and held it "I think I should warn you, this may not be your ideal Pokémon"

"I don't care I'll take anything" Ash said knowing that now was not the time to be picky.

"Well in that case" he shot the Pokémon beam at a small bowl of water and out appeared Ash's Pokémon. It was dark black colour, so black it was like it was sucking in the light from around it. On any other Pokémon this would be cool, but not on this Pokémon.

"Magikarp Magi-Karp" it said splashing in the water just a little, not enough to cause any problems though.

"Its name is Magikarp, you may have heard of it. It is commonly known as the weakest of all Pokémon" Professor Oak introduced it making it even less impressive.

"I-is it supposed to be black, I thought it would be red" Ash said observing the strange fish in its small container.

"No that one of the strange things about this Magikarp" the old man said lightly petting the creature, it responded by happily closing its eyes moving towards him. "It's also part of the reason I need someone to raise it. You see I want to see what happens when it evolves in terms of its colouring, but despite my best efforts I haven't been able to get it to evolve in all the time I've had it. I'm hoping that your training will be able to change that"

"Well…what moves does it know" he asked hoping it being black meant it had super powerful moves.

"It knows splash, which as you know does nothing, flail and tackle. Flail is stronger when the Pokémon is hurt, so don't use it early in a battle" he explained still playing with the happy fish.

"What happened to the other starter Pokémon, shouldn't they have sent one for each of the trainers?" he asked joining Oak in petting the Magikarp, its scales were hard and slimy to the touch; he had to actively fight to continue petting the Pokémon. It was clearly enjoying the attention though, so that helped him get through it. If nothing else Magikarp was clearly friendly, so that was something.

"Yes. Ash there was a break-in, we don't know who or how, but someone managed to steal one of the starter Pokémon that would have otherwise gone to you." He paused to regain control of his anger before he said something he shouldn't say in front of someone so young "But don't worry I've already contacted the police, and their more than capable of solving a crime like this" he lied knowing that the police were not capable from his experience.

"Now take these, your Pokédex and poke balls" he said putting them into Ash's free hand.

"Thank you" and with that Ash returned his new Pokémon to its ball and left quickly, hoping to slip away before anyone saw him.

A plan which fell apart immediately when he saw just about everyone he knew waiting outside with banners to congratulate him on beginning his journey. "Mom" he said trying not to sound embarrassed at the Pokémon he had, hoping that not mentioning it would make it not come up somehow.

"Oh Ash I'm so proud, your finally have a Pokémon partner who will go with you on all your journeys. Where is your Pokémon anyway?" was the very first things she asked, he felt like he should have seen this coming, nothing else had gone well today so why would this?

"It's a water type, so it can't come out its poke ball right now" he tried hoping that would be sufficient, of course it wasn't.

"I thought Squirtle could come out on land" she asked tilting her head in confusion.

"It's not Squirtle…in fact it's probably a Pokémon you've never seen before, Professor Oak said it's very rare. In fact he gave it to me specifically because he needed to have it evolve and knew a strong trainer would be needed to get it done" he was laying it on pretty thick admittedly, but when he saw Professor Oak nodding he knew he would get away with it.

After that it was just an embarrassing talk with his mother to get though… or not. "Hey I have a pond we could all look at it there" a family friend pitched in making Ash feel like crying from shame. He could just imagine what they would say when they saw that his 'special' Pokémon was a Magikarp.

He knew that he should just be happy to have any Pokémon at all, and he was happy. It's just that after saying that it's something super rare and cool he didn't feel like showing them that it was actually something super common that can barley battle.

"Sorry but that can't be done, Ash has to begin raising this Pokémon right away. It's very important for my research" Professor Oak saved him literally pushing him towards route one and the start of his journey. Ash didn't mind though, he had been waiting a long time to begin his journey so he wasn't in the mood to wait around.

Pokémon-Pokémon-Pokémon

After walking a short amount of time Ash arrived at a river and sent out Magikarp. "Ok, now to catch some Pokémon" he said expecting Magikarp to respond in some way, he turned around when it didn't to see it hadn't moved at all.

"So… I was thinking that maybe since it's our first time together we should start with…" he tried to think of a Pokémon that Magikarp would do well against, unfortunately the only one that came to mind was another Magikarp. He knew that capturing more that one Pokémon of the same type wasn't exactly wrong…it's just being known for having an army of Magikarp wasn't all that appealing.

"Ah" a large brown bird Pokémon with sharp claws and a long beak cried as it dived into the water catching Magikarp with its claws. Not being able to think of anything else Ash did took the only option available to him. He jumped, catching Magikarp, and then falling into the water.

Where there had been originally was calm and easy to swim in, so he wasn't too worried when he went so deep underwater. He had to struggle a bit to get back up due to air problems, but he got up quickly.

At least he thought he got up quickly, in realist it became quite clear he didn't when he got up. He looked around and could see nothing, in addition to this he also noticed that the previously gentle flow was now rough and powerful, and was about to push him over a waterfall.

He fell with a mighty crash, holding onto Magikarp tightly as he got pushed though the water. Whenever he would be pushed to the surface he would gasp for air frantically before being pushed back under.

It was horrible, water rushed up his nose making him splutter and cough every time he surfaced and he barely got to take a breath before the current took him back under. Pretty soon he started feeling a little lightheaded, he realised he had no real idea how long he had been in the water for but it didn't feel like long. It was still exhausting though.

Finally he was stopped by something catching onto his shirt.

His shirt was then roughly pulled; surprisingly he was then lifted and thrown roughly onto the water. "Nah it's just a kid" he heard as he coughed up all the water. "Oh and a Magikarp, oh are you ok?" she cooed jumping towards the duo.

"Yeah, I think we're ok" he answered smiling to his rescuer.

"Not you!" she yelled angrily taking the Magikarp from him and putting it in the water "Its injured, why would you grab it" she yelled at him as he came to check on it.

"It's my Pokémon, I was trying to save it from a Fearow when we got stuck in the water" he explained frantically waving his hands around before stopping due to the pain in his muscles.

"Well don't just sit there, there's a medical centre not too far away. Return him to his ball and get there right away" she ordered pointing in its general direction. "Ah-ha" the Fearow's cry was loud as it swooped in from behind them, several Spearow in tow.

Doing as he was told he quickly returned Magikarp to its ball, running and jumping on a nearby bike-probably the loud girls bike-and riding away, ignoring her protests completely as he peddled as fast as he could.

Angry storm clouds formed over head as he peddled, the harsh winds smashing into him with blisteringly cold rain as he continued to peddle. From inside its poke ball Magikarp was able to see this as the water began collecting in the basket he was currently in. It also heard the Fearow as it once again let out a cry before crashing into Ash sending him flying to the ground the Spearow swarming around them.

Magikarp continued to watch as Ash picked up the bike and used it as a weapon to fend of the large bird and successfully made the smaller ones flee. But it was to no avail as the Fearow soon took the bike in its beak and crushed it. "Crap!" he yelled as a hard peck cut his chest sending him to the ground.

Blood started spreading from the wound, it wasn't very deep but it was enough to hurt badly. The blood was spread further when it mixed with the rain and the mud making it seem like there was a lot more then there really was.

"Magikarp!" Magikarp cried releasing itself from its ball and blocking the path between the two. "Magikarp you have to return to your ball, you won't be able to fend of Fearow by yourself" Ash yelled as he shot the red beam at the fish, but it jumped out of the way hitting Fearow with its best tackle.

"Magikarp I'm not kidding this is too dangerous" he yelled shooting the beam several more time as Magikarp continued to try to fight the Fearow. **Crash **the Fearow's mighty beak finally connected sending the fish back and into Ash's arms, he quickly rolled over so as to shield it from the monster.

He searched for its ball finding it had been knocked away by the last attack. Thunder and lightning went off around them, the sound in perfect time with Fearow's pecks to Ash's back. "It's ok Magikarp, your my Pokémon and I'm going to protect you" Ash ground out though the pain holing Magikarp close.

Blood was now dripping down his sides, Fearow's attacks having formed several cuts that were bleeding painfully. But Fearow clearly wasn't going to stop; he would keep going not caring whether or not Ash was injured.

"Magi-Ka-a-karp!"Magikarp yelled as a yellow ball formed in its mouth, the energy soon flying into the Fearow. **Crash **the attack collided mightily, the explosion kicking up rubble all around the winged beast obscuring it from Ash's awe struck view.

That moment seemed to last forever, the dust slowly parting to the side. Ash was unable to see Fearow the whole time and felt nothing but fear, if the attack failed then this would definitely be bad. But he would protect Magikarp no matter what.

Finally when the dust had cleared it was revealed, lying there defeated was Fearow. No longer was it a crazed beast instead it laid before them as nothing more than a defeated Pokémon. "Wow Magikarp…what did you just do?" Ash asked still trying to process what exactly had just happened.

"Magikarp"he looked over at Magikarp finding him to still be in one piece, he decided that the exact details could wait. What mattered was that Magikarp was ok "You should rest" he said returning the black fish to its ball noticing how the sky completely clearly in such a short time, it was weird to say the least.

It was then that he saw a strange bird flying into a newly formed rainbow, a strange glitter flowing from behind it. It was an avian Pokémon resembling a phoenix and a peacock. Its feathers were predominantly gold and red, with yellow tail-feathers, a white underside, and green feathers at the tip of its wings. He noticed it also has a green stripe on its neck, a yellow beak, black rings around its red eyes, and a feathered, yellow crest on its head. Finally he noticed it's darkly coloured feet and legs with four toes and long talons. "What's that?" he asked his Pokédex.

"There is currently no data on this Pokémon, it has yet to be identified" it explained unhelpfully. But it did make Ash wonder, a Pokémon that hadn't been identified was interesting. He had always just assumed that all Pokémon had been discovered, but if one hadn't than that meant that it was likely many more hadn't either.

He knew that he would be the one that discovered them, and he couldn't wait to do it with Magikarp at his side.

"Oh yeah I almost forgot" he reached for a poke ball turning and throwing it at Fearow "Poke ball go!" it hit the downed creature, bouncing off it and engulfing it in red light before closing with no resistance. It didn't even shake, Fearow was completely defeated so could put up so resistance at all.

After that Ash collected his two poke balls and continued towards the town knowing that he now had two Pokémon that needed treatment.


	2. Pokémon Emergency!

Officer Jenny, top police officer was currently surveying the area for suspicious people. She knew that she would find the Pokémon thieves that she was looking for sooner or later. After all she was the best police officer around. She looked at the poster again, the one showing a man with blue hair and a lilac rose and a woman with big red hair wearing uniforms with R's written on them.

She hadn't seen anyone who matched that description. 'They must have disguised themselves' she thought now realising that she had to be suspicious of everybody. That's when she saw the ten year old boy with black hair running holding a poke ball. 'Amazing they must have somehow made themselves appear shorter' she thought reaching out and grabbing him, yanking hard resulting in his falling roughly to the ground. "Hold it, just where of you think you're going with that Pokémon young man?" she questioned looking at the child noticing that he showed clear signs of a battle, even more reason to be suspicious.

"Ow, why did you do that? We were attacked I need to get Magikarp to a Pokémon centre right away" he yelled climbing to his feat a little shakily. She now noticed the blood that stained his black shirt, a lot of it had been washed away by the rain but it was still clearly there.

"Oh, I thought you might be steeling it. Just show me you're ID and you can go" she said in a softer voice leaning over to be at his level so that she could try to get a better look at him. He was clearly beat up, he had several holes in his cloths and many cuts were visible because of it.

Now Ash was panicking, no one ever mentioned an ID. He was too young to have a driver's license and he doubted she was talking about that, so what was he meant to show her? He then felt her taking something out of his pocket.

"I'm Dexter, a Pokédex programmed by Professor Oak for Pokémon Trainer Ash Ketchum of the town of Pallet. My function is to provide Ash with information and advice regarding Pokémon and their training. If lost or stolen, I cannot be replaced." The Pokédex said when she was done pushing buttons inside.

"Well that'll do I guess" she looked him up and down still a little suspicious, his condition meant he had either been attacked or he was the one doing the attacking, she couldn't be sure "I'll take you, it'll be faster" she justified as she pushed towards her motorbike. "You know, you're the fourth trainer I've seen from Pallet town today"

'Forth, I thought that there was only three Pokémon since one had gotten stolen' before he could ask any follow up questions though she had thrown him into a motorcycle and took off at ridiculous speeds-well past the limit- without either of them wearing a helmet.

Pokémon-Pokémon-Pokémon

After a short journey they arrived at the centre, but she didn't slow down. "This is tricky, so hold on" she yelled as the bike flew into the air just avoiding smashing the automatic doors and grinding to a halt right in front of nurse Joy.

"We have a drive way y-"

"It's a Pokémon emergency" Jenny yelled snatching the ball from Ash and handing it to nurse Joy.

"Looks like a Magikarp; we need a stretcher for a small water type Pokémon. Stat" she yelled and instantly some Chansey appeared pushing a stretcher with a tank of water on top of it into the room. "It'll be ok" she said in a soothing voice before turning to the Chansey next to her "Rush this Pokémon to the critical care unit!" she whispered harshly undercutting her previous statement making Ash severely worried.

Pokémon-Pokémon-Pokémon

A little later after Magikarp had been taken away, Fearow also being taken to get some care, Jenny had left and Joy was in the treatment room leaving Ash all alone in the waiting room. He waited for what seemed like forever. He was unable to think of anything but Magikarp and Fearow who were potentially in danger.

It was horrible.

A small green Pidgey came out of the clock signalling another hour had passed and he still hadn't received any updates on what was going on. This worried him, he had been worried the whole time up till now and yet they still hadn't sent word. Did that mean something really was wrong?

He looked around, hoping to find something he could do that would be useful. He needed something to distract him otherwise he would go crazy from the anxiety. Finally his eyes settled on the computer phone. "I should call Professor Oak, he will want to know what happened" he spoke to himself as he approached the computer. "Hello Professor"

"Ah hello Ash, have you made it Viridian city yet?" Oak greeted as soon as he picked up.

"Yes I have" Ash started Oak immediately beginning to talk again.

"Wonderful, the other trainers made it without any trouble too meaning you're the last one. I'm pleasantly surprised that you were able to do it, after all a Magikarp isn't the best starting Pokémon. But when Gary said you wouldn't have a single new Pokémon when you arrived at Viridian city I bet him a million dollars that you would" Oak said with a laugh making Ash smirk.

"That's great, since I already caught a Fearow" Ash said proudly reaching to where the poke ball had been only to find nothing reminding him it was still in treatment too. He frowned at the thought of both his Pokémon needing treatment, Fearow wasn't in as much trouble as Magikarp but it was still upsetting.

"Ha-ha looks like I win then; may I ask how you caught something so powerful though? Magikarp is well trained but it shouldn't be able to beat a Fearow."

"Well it wasn't easy, I only went for it because it attacked us" Ash paused trying to figure out exactly what Magikarp had done "He used a weird move, like he shot fire-or maybe some kind of energy- out of its mouth" he tried not being able to explain it very well, he thought back on it but really it wasn't very clear. He just remembered the sudden light followed by an explosion then it was over. It all happened ridiculously fast.

"HN…that's, very unusual. What did the Pokédex say about it?" he asked making Ash scratch his neck sheepishly.

"I didn't think to ask" he then reached into his pocket pulling the Pokédex out to see what it said.

"Dragon rage, this powerful move is often used by Gyarados and is believed to be one of its strongest attacks" it explained confusing Ash further, he turned to Oak for guidance only to find him just as confused.

"Yes, this is very strange indeed" he said before pausing to think for a second before continuing slowly "I honestly can't think of any reason Magikarp would be able to use such a powerful attack. Clearly it's a very special specimen; I would like you to continue raising it and report back to me if anything else happens"

Ash nodded looking up slightly as he wondered what else Magikarp could be capable of, it was kind of exciting to think of it. "Ok Professor Oak, oh yeah I almost forgot I saw this strange Pokémon" he turned pointing to the carving he saw of the legendary bird earlier "It's the one in the top right"

The professor responded immediately "Don't talk nonsense; you couldn't have seen this Pokémon. Trainers have searched their whole lives and never caught a glimpse of it. You must have been mistaken, anyway my dinner should be ready now so I'll be leaving you, good luck on your journey" and with that he hung up before Ash had a chance to say anything more. Ash supposed it didn't matter anyway, it's not like he would be able to convince the professor he saw it without any proof.

"Now I've got you!" a high pitch irritating voice yelled from behind him. When he turned towards the source he saw the red-head from earlier carrying a burnt bike that was nearly destroyed panting for breath in the door way. "I knew I'd find you here"

"Well yeah, because you're the one who told me to come here" he stated the obvious looking at her destroyed bike some more.

"Shut up you loser, I'm here to because you ruined my bike you idiot" she yelled at him slowly advancing forward with fury burning in her eyes. "Your goanna pay for my bike" under normal circumstances Ash would have argued, but this girl was anything but normal. There was no way he would risk a confrontation with her.

"Ok, how much does it cost?" he asked not really caring, he didn't have a lot of money but he wasn't poor either.

"Well it was a custom made bike, so here" she handed him the piece of paper which had the amount he owed her on as well as a description of the bike.

"Ah, it can't have cost this much. It wasn't even fast" he yelled knowing that she must have been trying to trick him. The 'custom features' seemed made up at least.

"Listen here you loser, you're going to pay me back for that bike in full. I'm not going to let you weasel your way out of this one" she yelled dropping the bike gently-something that seemed odd considering it was already destroyed beyond repair-and moving even closer to him with a face that would make grown men shudder.

**Beep **the door to the procedure room opened and out came Nurse Joy with the newly healed Magikarp that lay unconscious-hopefully sleeping- in the water. "The procedure was a success, he'll still need some time to rest but after that he should be as strong as ever. I'll be taking it to the recovery room, you should go in with it Ash" she advised preparing to take the Pokémon away. "Oh and your Fearow has been completely healed" she added happily handing him the poke ball.

"Thank you very much Nurse Joy" Ash said putting it on his belt as he stood to follow her.

"You have a Fearow?" the red-head asked invading his personal space making him take a step back.

"Yeah, I caught him after Magikarp defeated him with dragon rage" Ash said casually not thinking about how unusual his Magikarp was.

"You shouldn't lie about things like this! There's no way your Magikarp could be a Fearow, especially in the condition it was in!" Misty screeched in his ear so loud it was left ringing for a few seconds afterwards. This girl sure did like yelling.

"Then how did I catch it?" he countered, Misty opened her mouth preparing to yell again. Then she realised he had a point, it would be nearly impossible to catch a Fearow with full health and since she was pretty sure he had no other Pokémon…

"I know your lying…you probably already had a Fearow and that one that attacked you was a different one, everyone knows Magikarp can't use dragon rage" she seethed since if he was telling the truth that meant that the Magikarp she had raised when she was young were worse than his, and that was just impossible. She was a future water Pokémon master, which meant that her water Pokémon would be the strongest!

"Your attention please, our radar system have detected an aircraft belonging to a group of Pokémon thieves" a siren went off during the announcement bringing everyone's attention to the voice.

**Crash **the window in the roof broke, two poke balls falling though it and into the centre of the room releasing Pokémon. The first was a purple ball with spikes on it, a Koffing; the other was a purple snake with a yellow tip to its take, Ekans.

"Koffing"the Koffing flew around the room releasing thick black smoke making it hard to breathe and see. Ash covered his mouth with his sleeve trying to look despite the pain it caused his eyes soon seeing some figures though the smoke.

"Allow use to introduce ourselves" a voice said a silhouette of a man being visible though the smoke for Ash to see.

"To protect the world from devastation" a second female silhouette yelled as it too came into view.

"To unite all peoples within our nation" the smoke cleared revealing the male figure to be a man with long blue hair holding a rose next to his emerald green eyes.

"To denounce the evils of truth and love" the smoke cleared further revealing the woman with sapphire blue eyes, red lips, and green earrings and hair is long and curved.

"To extent our reach to the stars above" the man stood perfectly still as if building up to something.

"Jessie" the woman yelled striking a strange pose.

"James" the man said in a voice that made it sound almost like he was being smug about his own name.

"Team rocket blast off at the speed of light" Jessie yelled the motto still not ending.

"Surrender now or prepare to fight" then a Meowth jumped in from the ceiling.

"Meowth, that's right" the Meowth spoke, shocking everyone with this ability.

"What are you talking about?" Ash didn't get any useful information from that little speech at all.

"We're here to steal all the Pokémon" Jessie said proudly striking another pose.

"You're not getting Magikarp" they both burst out laughing when he said this.

"Kid we're not interested in your little fish, we only want rare and valuable Pokémon" James boasted proudly his Koffing still floating next to him.

"You're wasting your time, this is a centre for weak and injured Pokémon" Nurse Joy pointed out a little surprised they hadn't thought of that. She knew about Team Rocket's reputation, they were known for only wanting strong Pokémon and ignoring the weak.

"That may be, but I wouldn't be at all surprised if we found some gems along with all the junk. Which is why we're going to attack, Ekans go!" she commanded James commanding his Koffing as well.

Koffing shot forward, releasing more thick smoke as it floated around the room. Ash, Misty and Nurse Joy instantly made a break for it, running frantically to try to get Magikarp out the room. Ekans charged but missed instead hitting a computer breaking it apart. They soon made it to the next room, the sound of the destruction being caused by Team Rocket filling their ears.

They didn't stop there though, knowing that they would be pursued they continued running down the hall until they reached the poke ball storage room. The room had large high shelves; all packed fully with poke balls. There was a fizzling sound as the lights flickered before dying. "The lights"

"They must have cut the power, but don't worry, we've got our own Pika power source" Various Pikachu who were running on a circular treadmill releasing electricity into a generator and reactivating the lights.

"Wow their so cute" Misty cooed looking at them as they repeatedly shouted their own name continuing to run in circles.

"A crisis has arisen, initiating emergency poke ball transfer sequence" an automated voice stated the computer coming to life. Metal claws reached out, grabbing poke balls one at a time and putting them into a strange machines funnel that then moved then into a claw shape device. They glowed white as they were hit by electricity then disappeared as Nurse Joy operated the machine sending the Pokémon to somewhere safe.

It was for the best, it may be inconvenient tracking them all down since they were being sent off to anywhere that could receive them but it was definitely far better than letting Team Rocket get any of them.

Smoke seeped in through the doors, the doors shook slightly from someone trying to open them before Koffing smashed through them effortlessly breaking the lock. Seeing this Ash threw out what was currently his only Pokémon "I chose you, Fearow" the bird appeared large and powerful looming over the small snake, Ekans. "Use Fury attack" he wasn't going to give them a chance to surprise him.

The large bird instantly complied, hitting the snake Pokémon with its beak over and over again. "Ekans, counter with poison sting" the snake did as it was told, the small darts of poison shooting out from its mouth and hitting Fearow at point black range making it let out a screech of pain jumping back to avoid further damage.

"Starmie, come on out and use water gun on Ekans" the purple star shaped Pokémon appeared in a flash of light, but before it could do anything it was hit by a strong tackle from Koffing, his trainer cheering happily at his success.

"Ekans, use wrap" Jessie commanded the snake, it soon began wrapping itself around the proud bird "Hah, try and attack now"

Ash smirked; he knew that wrap could restrict a Pokémon's movements preventing them from attacking. But he also knew that in some cases that didn't work out. "Ok, Fearow use peck" Fearow did as it was told, its long neck allowing it to attack effectively despite Ekans position, soon knocking the Pokémon off it with swirls in its eyes.

"Oh, you're useless. Ekans return. James hurry up and end this!" she commanded what she viewed as her underling moving back so that she wouldn't be hit by any stray attacks by accident.

James's features filed with terror at this command, Jessie had already lost and now he was expected to beat them both. But then he smirked realising something, he was James the newly appointed member of Team Rocket. There was no way these little twerps could beat him "Right, Koffing use…" he paused trying to think of an attack that could defeat both there enemy's "…use smog" he tried the Koffing quickly spewing out thick black smoke from the holes in the side of its body hiding it from view. This lasted for very little time.

"Fearow, flap your wings to blow it away" Ash commanded the powerful wings of the bird Pokémon easily dispersing the gas blowing it into Jessie instead. She breathed in instantly regretting it as she went into a coughing fit; it felt like her lungs were on fire!

"How Starmie use water gun" Misty cried pointing at the opponent, her Starmie pointing one star at it before releasing a powerful torrent of water smashing it into the wall. It fell shortly after with swirls in its eyes signifying its defeat.

"Koffing return, well you're up Meowth" he said gently pushing the talking cat forward.

"Right, you should all be prepared for my F-" he was cut off by a powerful water gun from Starmie throwing him into a wall hard "Ow, that hurt" he whined slowly making his way to his feat only to come face to face with Fearow "Nice birdie, you wouldn't hurt a defenceless Meowth would you"

"Coward" Jessie scolded angrily disgusted by his behaviour, they were Team Rocket and yet he was acting scared because of a Fearow. It was pathetic.

"I would like to see how you fight this thing" he yelled before Fearow smacked him with its wing into Jessie and James leaving them all in a heap. Ash smiled at this walking forward towards the door pleased at having defeated them. It was his first Pokémon battle so he was definitely happy that it ended in victory.

"Nice work you two" Nurse Joy congratulated them before the door flew open smashing into Ash hard.

"No need to panic, I'm here now" officer Jenny yelled as she ran into the room. "Oh my goodness, those people knocked out this child" she commented checking over the unconscious Ash who was sprawled out on the ground from the recent blow.

"Actually that was you Officer Jenny"

A/N

Please review

Ash's current Pokédex status

Pokémon captured: 2

Data obtained: 2

This is actually more so I can keep track than anything else, Pokémon captured included Pokémon of same type, data obtained included when a Pokémon evolved just for clarity.

Please review with any thoughts or opinions you have on this or any other chapter and follow and favourite too, but mostly review. Reviews are the best by far.

If you like Officer Jenny I'm sorry but she always seemed remarkably incompetent to me relying on others to do her job for her then taking credit for their actions.

Review with whether or not you agree with the above statement.

Review!


	3. Challenge of the Samurai

Ash woke up groggily not remembering when he went to sleep. He opened his eyes tentatively; the room was just a Pokémon centre room, nothing special about it.

Why was he here again? He remembered beating team rocket, then…well it couldn't be that important. He got out of bed noticing his head was aching a little, that was weird, it didn't seem serious though so he ignored it and started getting ready to leave.

When he was done showering and changing his underwear, something his mum had been quiet insistent of him doing every day, he returned find his room still empty. He then left to go get a meal. He got down stairs and saw Misty had already done so; she had even gotten extra for him.

With that thought in mind he took the vacant seat next to her and grabbed a sandwich. "What do you think you're doing?" it was as if she was trying to kill him with her stare as he held the sandwich.

"Hi Misty, do you know what happened last night I forgot?" he took a bit out of the sandwich ignoring her furious expression.

"Why are you eating my sandwich?" she spat taking an angry bite of her own. Ash took another bite.

"Thanks for buying breakfast" he said taking another bite while looking around the table for what to eat next. She glared at him taking half back and eating it, mentally she added the cost of the sandwich onto the cost of her bike.

"I'm going to bill you for this you know, you owe me one bike and now one sandwich" she huffed before looking at the boy "By the way, you shouldn't have left your cuts alone, they could have been infected"

Ash looked at her blankly for a second before remembering the injuries inflicted by Fearow "Oh right…sorry for worrying you" Ash said rubbing the worst one on his chest reflexively.

"I wasn't worried, Nurse Joy was" Misty muttered still eating her sandwich "That reminds me, she said she wants to put something on those cuts to make it heal faster. Don't worry she assured me it would be painless"

Pokémon-Pokémon-Pokémon

One incredibly painful hour later Ash left the Pokémon centre, now knowing about the events of the night before including Team Rockets arrest and his being knocked unconscious thanks to Nurse Joy. He was still hungry, half a sandwich was not enough and unfortunately Misty refused to give him any more, saying something about him being a freeloader. He would have brought his own but then Nurse Joy turned up with the 'medicine' to 'help' him.

Now he was entering Viridian forest, Misty following him. "You know if you walk beside me instead of behind people won't think your stalking me" he yelled back as he continued marching through the forest.

"Like I would ever associate myself with the likes of you!" she screeched in a high-pitched annoying voice before letting out an even high pitched screech and running in front of him "B-bug!"

Ash turned to see a small green worm Pokémon with a pink crest "Hey it's a Caterpie!" Ash yelled looking at the small green Pokémon as it slowly moved towards them. "I'm goanna catch it" he reached to the side finding the poke ball "Go Fearow" he yelled as the large powerful bird appeared. "Use peck" the bird complied hitting Caterpie and knocking it over so swirls were in its eyes in one hit.

"Well that was easy" Ash thought aloud "Go poke ball" the ball connecting and engulfing the small bug type in red light before sucking it into itself.

It shook once, then again and finally a third time before stopping with a small ding. "Yay, I caught me a Caterpie" he yelled as he picked it up and let it outs its ball. He was pleased to see that it wasn't injured; apparently it had just given up quickly.

"Ah!" Misty cried running away and hiding behind a tree. Caterpie still saw her though and without hesitating a second ignored Ash and sprinted over to Misty. It got there with surprising speed, nuzzling into the scared girls leg lovingly "Get this disgusting bug away from me" she cried making Caterpie slum down sadly, was he really disgusting?

"Misty that's not very nice" Ash yelled furious at her behaving like that, Caterpie wasn't disgusting and being mean to Pokémon was inexcusable in his book.

"Ash, this isn't funny, get that thing back in its ball. Bugs are one of the three most disgusting things in the world" she yelled hysterically flailing her arms about as she tried to get away from the horrifying creature.

"What are the three most disgusting things in the world?" he had a feeling he would be on the list.

"Carrots, peppers and bugs" she cried cowering away from the approaching Caterpie, Ash was actually happy he wasn't on the list, not that he cared what she thought. "So either put that thing away or go on without me" she threatened knowing he would cave instantly.

"Great" he said picking Caterpie up and placing him on his shoulder "I've now got a Misty repellent" he yelled gleefully before turning and calmly walking away.

Pokémon-Pokémon-Pokémon

Later that night Ash was in his sleeping bag ready for bed. He sent out Fearow and Caterpie "Ok guys, do you want to stay out for tonight or stay in your poke balls" he asked before noticing the look of terror on Caterpie's face. "Hey Caterpie what's wrong?" he asked as the small bug ran behind him.

All he got for a response was a low moan and gesturing towards Fearow. "You don't have to be afraid, Fearow won't hurt you. Right Fearow" he said looking to his bird Pokémon.

"Fearow-fear-fear (You look delicious)"Fearow cried which Ash took to be him agreeing. He smiled at his kind Pokémon.

"See everything's fine" he turned to see Caterpie had already got back into its ball, shrugging he decided to ignore it for tonight. He wanted his Pokémon to get along but he also knew that forcing these things rarely worked "Do you want to stay out then Fearow" he asked readying the poke ball. The large bird nodded though so he put it away.

"Good you finally put that thing away" Misty yelled having appeared out of nowhere to now be sitting next to him.

"Ah, you followed me" this was really strange, who followed people. Maybe she really was a stalker.

"No…this is just the fastest way through the woods, besides you still owe me a bike" she yelled lying down in her sleeping bag and wriggling about to get comfortable.

"Whatever" and with that he promptly fell asleep, not knowing what was waiting for him tomorrow.

Pokémon-Pokémon-Pokémon

The morning was beautiful, clear blue sky's lay above them as they slept. But that wasn't the only thing that was above them. "Greetings, am I addressing the Pokémon trainer who comes from Pallet" Ash heard someone say but he didn't want to open his eyes yet.

"I'm from Pallet…five more minutes" Ash muttered rolling away from the offensive sound.

"I have found you at last" he drew his samurai sword putting it right in the face of the sleeping boy. Ash didn't respond, he just continued gently snoring oblivious to the sword mere inches from his face.

A loud scream penetrated the air making Ash's eyes fly open to see the sword inches from his face. Ash let out a loud high pitch scream at being woken up like this, could you blame him though waking up with a sword in your face was a little unnerving. "What the hell's going on?" he cried frantically moving away from the sword, falling over several times whilst doing so due to the sleeping bag.

"I am the samurai; I am also fearless and completely invincible in combat" he introduced himself removing the sword from Ash's face.

"Good for you…why are you're here exactly?" Ash asked regaining his bearings and feeling more secure when Fearow came up beside him.

"For a battle of course" he yelled loudly making Ash wince at the sound.

"Couldn't you have waited till we woke up" Misty cried appearing from her hiding place.

"I waited for a long time watching the trainer from Pallet sleep but he didn't wake up" Samurai said creeping Ash out. Was he joking or was he serious? His tone didn't change at all but Ash was still optimistic.

"Ew, ok I'll battle you if it'll make you leave" Ash relented not wanting anything else to happen with this strange person.

"Excellent, Pinsir assume battle mode!" he screamed loudly throwing the ball with the stag beetle Pokémon out, it appeared bathed in white light. Ash quickly raised his Pokédex not recognising this Pokémon.

"Pinsir, this fearsome Pokémon uses its powerful claws to put the squeeze on its opponents." The Pokédex described using a pun in its dry monotone voice.

"Huh, bug type. Then I'll use my bug type then, go Caterpie" Ash yelled throwing the small bug out for the battle.

"Ash you idiot, Caterpie doesn't stand a chance, he'll be split in half by Pinsir. Even a bug doesn't deserve that" she cried insulting Ash for what felt like the millionth time.

"Don't worry I got this, Caterpie use string shot and aim for the legs" Ash commanded the small worm complying covering the opponents legs in a thin layer of string.

"Hah, child's play, Pinsir counters with tackle" Samurai commanded the large beetle jumping up breaking though the string and heading right for Caterpie. The collision was harsh, knocking the small bug-type back and into a tree leaving it unable to battle. "Ha-ha-ha your Pokémon is beaten"

"Caterpie return" Ash yelled shooting the beam of light at the bug "You did great Caterpie, now rest" Ash then looked though his options soon finding his next choice "Fearow I chose you!" the large bird flew down from where it had been watching looming over Pinsir.

"Good idea Ash, flying types should have the advantage in battle" Misty called out from the side-lines, Ash was shocked; he had never heard her compliment something he did before.

"Fearow use fury attack" the bird complied launching forward beak at the ready for the powerful attack.

"Pinsir, tackle it" the bug complied launching itself at the bird. They collided powerfully, the attacks being exchanged at an amazing rate in the sky before Pinsir landed Fearow staying airborne.

"Now while its recovering dive in with peck" Ash ordered the large bird swooping down, Pinsir tried in vain to dodge but residual string on its legs slowed it. The attack hit perfectly. Pinsir was completely unable to dodge or block and, unable to take its full force fell to the ground defeated.

"Clever, very clever using string shot like that" Samurai observed as he readied his next Pokémon "Metapod I chose you" he threw the ball a green cocoon appearing. Ash took out his Pokédex for information.

"Metapod, Caterpie's next stage, it has encased its body in a hard shell." It spoke in its monotone as it scanned the opponents Pokémon.

"Metapod harden" Samurai commanded the cocoon Pokémon shining brightly as it did.

"Fearow that's enough return" he could see the bird was tired and didn't know what kind of power Metapod would have "Magikarp I choose you" he said having no other Pokémon to choose from. "Try tackle" the fish launched forward hitting the cocoon knocking it back in the process.

"A pathetic strategy, Metapod use harden" he cried the cocoon shiny even brighter as it got even harder.

"Uh, try tackle again" this went on for a while with Metapod barley being damaged and Magikarp not being damaged at all eventually Ash got sick of it.

"Aren't you ever going to attack?" he cried this was so boring it was painful. He knew that he wouldn't be able to do a lot of damage using Magikarp, but with the constant hardening of Metapod Magikarp was doing even less! This would go on forever.

"Well, you see, the thing is…" he drifted off blushing from embarrassment as he scratched his chin.

"Metapod can't do anything but harden" Misty who was sunbathing called out "And Magikarp is too weak to do any damage so hurry up and sent Fearow back out" Ash stopped staring at her bikini long enough to comply, when had she changed into that?

"Nice work Magikarp you can rest now" he called absorbing it in red light "Fearow, its weak take it out with peck" the bird did as soon as it was released the attack hitting the cocoon so hard a crack was made in it.

"Ah Metapod" Samurai charged onto the battle field picking up his Pokémon to look at the injury. As he was checking it he saw a flash, then another until eventually it was just a continuing ray of light coming though the crack followed by a wing. "Could it be?"

The wing was followed by the rest of the body until finally the proud Butterfree was free from its cocoon. "My Metapod has evolved into a Butterfree; you don't stand a chance now" he cried as the Butterfree floated in front of him. Ash got out his Pokédex to get information on it.

"Butterfree, one week after Caterpie evolves into Metapod, it again evolves into Butterfree." The machine explained scanning the Pokémon.

"Huh, so that's what Caterpie will be some day" Ash thought feeling worried for the first time in the battle.

"Now Butterfree, harden!" he cried the bug type complying by covering itself in a shiny coat.

"Fearow don't worry we can win this with peck" Ash cried the large bird swooping forward and hitting the Butterfree the centre.

"Butterfree, poison powder" Samurai commanded pointing dramatically. Butterfree flew up releasing a cloud of purple powder.

"Fearow blow it back with gust" Fearow flapped its powerful wings creating a large gust of wind that shot the poison back hitting Butterfree, the bug type instantly looked ill.

"Now use peck to end this" the powerful attack connected throwing the flying bug in the ground defeated.

"Amazing, simply amazing, you're just as good as the other trainers from Pallet who beat me. It was such an exciting battle." Samurai praised returning his defeated Butterfree "Clearly I will need to train allot if I am to ever become strong enough to defeat you"

"Well, maybe if you had some different type Pokémon that would help. All bug type meant that my flying type had a constant advantage" Ash advised smartly.

"Perhaps, but my dream is to be a bug type master. I will continued on my chosen path until I have achieved this, I'm sure you'll follow your chosen path as well. It will take some time before I am able to truly battle evenly with you, here take this. It's a map of the forest, it should help you find your way out" he explained before turning and walking away.

A/N

Review please; what did you think of the change to the fight with samurai, I thought I would change it up a bit by moving events around and adding the evolution. Oh and Team Rocket was in jail still which is why they weren't able to turn up as fast.

Next chapter things will happen.

Please review

Ash's current Pokédex status

Pokémon captured: 2

Data obtained: 2


	4. Showdown in Pewter City

Ash stood at the top of a hill looking over Pewter city, it had taken a while to get out of the forest even with the map. Something Misty blamed on him, like how she blamed everything else on him. The only upside was that he was able to find a Weedle that he caught easily.

It had actually be kind of fun despite being an easy capture.

**Flash back**

Ash had been lying in his sleeping bag; they were supposed to have left the forest yesterday but had gotten lost. In the end after wondering around aimlessly for a while they decided to set up camp since the combination of the dark and the trees made it impossible to tell where they were and where to go.

When Ash awoke he had a brilliant morning, Fearow saw still next to him-although he noticed it was actually closer to Misty that him but still-and his Caterpie was on the other side. Getting it to stay out at all wasn't easy since it was so weary of Fearow. He didn't understand why since Fearow always reassured him he would protect him.

He assumed it was a type thing.

As he stretched though he noticed something that made him smile, a Weedle, the small gentle Pokémon had clearly decided to join them during the night. But it wasn't Weedle joining them that made Ash smile. No it was Weedle's choice of a bed.

Evidently Misty's face was very comfortable as it was currently lying on top of her curled into a cute little ball. He rooted though a bag finally finding an empty poke ball that he had packed up the night before and holding it with a huge smile on his face.

He knew it was dishonest to catch a Pokémon in his sleep, but he was ok with waiting. He just wanted to have a poke ball when it came time to battle. He had heard stories of people defeating super rare Pokémon without poke balls. The people were rarely viewed as smart.

While he waited he decided to have some breakfast. Or what passed for breakfast when you're in a forest. A tough granola bar and some milk that was due to expire today. Or maybe it was yesterday, he was a little fuzzy on the date.

It was as he was drinking the last of his milk that a piercing scream sounded. He turned to see Misty huddled up behind her blankets with Weedle looking at her happily. "Get away, shoo. I don't like you" the Weedle took a step forward so she waddled three back falling over as she did so.

"Wow Misty, you seem to attract bug Pokémon. That's quite a skill" Ash said chuckling as the Weedle was joined by Caterpie and they continued to follow her around.

"Very funny, well I don't want them so" they took a step forward getting on her sleeping bag a little "DO SOMETHING"

Ash chuckled some more "Alright Weedle I challenge you to a battle" the small Pokémon didn't even acknowledge him "Ok…Caterpie use tackle attack"

Fortunately this small bug type did listen to him and rammed into the other with surprising strength. "Weedle" the Pokémon turned shooting small pins at the other Pokémon sending it backwards and causing it to let out a high pitch squeal of pain as it was bombarded by the poison type attack.

"Caterpie don't let Weedle push you around, dodge left" the pins missed "Now diagonally forward then roll" this worked well as the distance was completely closed "Now finish it with a tackle attack" it did so with gusto hitting its brown counterpart so hard it was knocked back leaving swirls in its eyes signifying its defeat.

"Poke ball go!" Ash threw the ball hard hitting the small Pokémon dead centre, it then spewed red light onto the small Pokémon absorbing it in its entirety.

It shook once, twice, three times. The red light flashed then finally it went pure white. "Alright I caught another bug type" Ash said walking over and picking the ball up.

"You've got to stop catching bug types, there so slimy and gross it's horrible" the so called tom-boy said squirming on the spot in horror. Ash just ignored her chuckling. He was planning on catching a lot more bug types after all. That and every other type he could find.

**End of flashback**

They hurried down to the Pokémon centre quickly arriving to find Nurse Joy behind the desk "Um, Nurse Joy…did you get transferred here or something?" he asked shocked to see her again, how had she gotten here so fast anyway.

"No, I've been here for a while now. Why do you ask?" her tone was as friendly as ever as she spoke.

"But, when we first met you were in Viridian city Pokémon centre" Ash said still confused as she seemed to not know who he was.

"Oh, you must be talking about my little sister" Ash thought it was weird since he didn't know many sisters who looked completely identical, twins' maybe but not sisters. "She told me all about you, very nice boy from what I've heard, I also think that poster might interest you" she said turning and turning away with the tray of his Pokémon to heal them.

He turned and saw a bright poster with information of the Pokémon league on it "The Pokémon league regional championships huh, that sounds-"

"Hah, like you'd be able to compete, to enter the regional championships you have to beat gym leaders from different towns and get the badges as proof. Can you do that?" she asked leaning in with a big grin-Ash was beginning to notice she was only happy when insulting him in some way.

"Sure, why wouldn't I be able to?"

"You can't win because gym leaders are different then everyday Pokémon trainers. There much tougher and don't make stupid mistakes like that samurai guy" she leaned forward a huge smile taking over her face "Tell you what, if you ask really nicely I'll help you out"

"Wow Misty that sounds great, thanks" Misty stood still, almost as if debating whether or not to make him beg or not, making Ash feel extremely uncomfortable as she deliberately dragged it out.

"Ok, I'll help you. You see Brock-the pewter city gym leader-specialises in Rock types which are often also ground type. This means they have a double weakness to water"

"How about you borrow some of my Pokémon, we could start a Pokémon-sharing relationship" she explained, Ash had never heard of one of those but was smart enough to figure it out.

"Yeah Misty that sounds great but since this is my first gym battle I want to use my own Pokémon only." He began going through the type advantages and disadvantages he knew. Sadly he quickly realised that he was at type disadvantage with any Pokémon he used, except Magikarp, he only had bug or flying types which would obviously struggle. It was made worse by Caterpie and Weedle being newly caught and first evolution.

Pokémon-Pokémon-Pokémon

By the time they had arrived at the gym Ash had decided to use Magikarp. He had chosen this for a few reasons, the first being that he wanted Magikarp to evolve since that's what the professor had asked him to do.

The second was that it wasn't at a type disadvantage. The third and most significant was that Magikarp could use dragon rage; he knew that with that move to get him out of a tough spot this was possible at least.

"Ash, I REALLY don't think this is a good idea" she tried for the hundredth time to convince him.

"All my other Pokémon are at type disadvantages, besides I need Magikarp to evolve"

"Well yeah but-" Ash cut her off.

"Don't worry I'll be fine, I'll just use dragon rage and that should cover it" he explained pushing the doors to the gym open confidently.

As soon as he entered he was confronted by a child no older than himself. He had tan skin, brown hair and small eyes-really small eyes. "Hi, I'm Forrest are you here for a gym battle?"

The boy-presumably the gym leader asked- "Yeah, that's why I'm here"

"Great then we'll battle over there" he pointed to the right where no visible battle field laid, flicking a switch and making the lights illuminate the ground before a large field covered in boulders and other rocks sprouted out from the side taking up the entire floor "If you win you can have a boulder badge, is a one-on-one ok with you?" Ash nodded and soon they were on opposite ends of the battle field preparing for battle.

"I thought the gym leader was called Brock"

"He's busy right now but I'm also the gym leader and can accept any challenge"

"Oh, ok"

Ash looked out at the field; he noticed there was no water which meant Magikarp wouldn't be able to move as well. He would need to end this quickly. "Rhyhorn I choose you" the large rock-skinned beast appeared on four legs, its powerful horn threatening as it glared around looking for its opponent.

"Magikarp I choose you" Ash yelled throwing the poke ball and in a burst of light the fish appeared on the field looking at the much large opponent.

"Ma-Magikarp" it said looking at the much larger opponent rebelliously.

"Come on Magikarp I know you can do this" Ash encouraged from the side-line waiting for the match to begin.

"Rhyhorn use horn attack" Forrest yelled as way of beginning the match.

"Magikarp dodge using splash then, dragon rage" This caught Forrest's attention, could this Magikarp really use such a powerful attack. 'This trainer must be very skilled…crap' he thought looking as the Magikarp successfully dodged the attack 'Crap. Crap. Crap' he then watched as the Magikarp started charging the attack. But it was small, not looking like what Forrest thought a dragon rage was.

Forrest had to actively refrain from snickering; this trainer was a complete idiot. He was going to win this and prove he could be a gym leader no problem!

Misty was equally as unsupportive as she knew Magikarp-having raised so many herself-and could tell that this was about to go poorly.

Ash though was confident, he had seen Magikarp do it to beat Fearow and now he would do it again.

Rhyhorn charged preparing for another horn attack, which if it connected would definitely take Magikarp out- no way something so small could take being attacked by something so big. Magikarp looked at the approaching behemoth with fear in its eyes as it tried desperately to conjure the attack that it first used just a few days ago.

The ball of yellow light began forming, first appearing to be little more than a dot, and then growing in size as Magikarp's opponent approached. When it finally fired Rhyhorn was just inches away.

The attack connected with its horn, the force creating a large explosion and sending the opponents Pokémon crashing into and subsequently though the rocks and boulders of the battle field. "Yes Magikarp you did it, you beat Rhyhorn" Ash yelled jumping up and down delighted at their victory.

This didn't continue for very long though.

Rhyhorn soon stood, looking worse for wear but still definitely able to battle as it stared down Magikarp. Ash cursed under his breath but soon regained his composure "Magikarp, give him dragon rage again and he should be beat"

"Rhyhorn don't give him the chance, charge at him and give him a strong horn attack" Forrest yelled trying to not panic as he noticed his Rhyhorn how had a noticeable limp.

Magikarp opened its mouth, preparing for a dragon rage attack with the small ball of light forming all the while Rhyhorn continued to move closer. It was far slower due to the limp but clearly was refusing to give up.

Finally Rhyhorn reached Magikarp and Magikarp released its dragon rage, but Ash knew something was off. The ball of light, the attack that was supposed to end this fight was too small, much too small. It wasn't even half the size of the first attack.

It hit at point blank once more; smoke and dust flew into the air obscuring the battle field. Ash was unable to do anything more than watch and hope Magikarp had somehow pulled though. Soon the smoke cleared and the two Pokémon came back into view.

Magikarp was exhausted; about to collapse in a heap but it appeared that Rhyhorn wasn't much better. Although it hadn't been knocked back like the last time it had clearly still sustained injury. Its horn had a crack going through its entirety and all of its armour was marred with small cracks and dents.

Neither was in good condition to battle.

"Rhyhorn, now's your chance use stomp before he can get away" Forrest commanded excitement clear in his voice, the prospect of winning getting the better of him making him ignore his Pokémon's condition.

The foot came down before Ash could re-act Magikarp letting out a pained cry as it was almost defeated on the spot. Rhyhorn then tried to again without order but Magikarp was able to splash away, lying to the side clearly injured and seemingly unable to battle.

"Now Rhyhorn, charge and finish this with horn attack" Forrest ordered and as if Rhyhorn already knew what he was going to say the tank like Pokémon began charging at the helpless fish. Ash watched and encouraged Magikarp but it soon became evident he couldn't do anything more.

"Magikarp return" Ash yelled shooting the red ray at his Pokémon, he knew that even one more attack from Rhyhorn would be his end.

"What? Are you surrendering?" Forrest asked still not recalling his Rhyhorn. He looked at Ash and could see the disappointment on his face.

"…yes, I surrender. You win" Ash said turning and preparing to leave. He heard Forrest returning Rhyhorn and the sound of Misty coming towards him but didn't look.

"Everybody stop" everyone in the room turned to see a tall boy with dark skin and small eyes standing in the open doorway. "This is not a valid gym battle" the boy continued walking into the room with an air of confidence.

Ash watched as he approached Forrest who seemed to almost shy away from him. "H-hey bro" Ash's former opponent stuttered walking backwards slightly to get away from the taller version of himself, but he just continued walking.

"Don't bro me, I saw everything" Brock announced gesturing for Ash and Misty to approach.

"So you saw me win, impressive huh" Forrest prodded having forgotten his earlier apprehension "I guess you can leave the gym to me after all" he announced proudly gesturing to the battlefield.

"No Forrest, I can't, and based on what I saw today I don't think I will be able to ever" Brock said harshly standing tall as he looked at his brother.

"B-but I won why wouldn't you be able to leave the gym to me?" Forrest asked confused just like Ash and Misty were since they thought he was the gym leader.

"Forrest, after that first attack by Magikarp your Rhyhorn's leg was severely injured. You had no way of knowing that the second one wouldn't be as strong and if it had been Rhyhorn could have ended up in the Pokémon centre for weeks" Brock said scowling at his brother.

"Of course I knew, it was easy to tell" Forrest replied with a wave of his hand looking almost as smug as Gary always looked.

"No, it wasn't. No body, even its trainer saw it coming. You were needlessly endangering your Pokémon, you need to know when to quit" he turned to Ash who still looked confused "When Ash knew his Magikarp couldn't take anymore he surrendered to ensure its safety. That is what you should have done"

"I still won" Forrest pouted turning away. Brock sighed deciding to ignore his brother for now.

"Your Magikarp fought well but is too tired and injured to continue, you should head to the Pokémon centre to get it healed" Brock advised calming down.

"Right" Ash yelled turning and running out the doors with Misty screaming at him to not leave her behind.

Pokémon-Pokémon-Pokémon

Later on Ash and Misty were at the Pokémon centre. They had checked in Magikarp, who Nurse Joy had diagnosed as having a severe case of exhaustion but he only had some relatively minor injuries aside from that. She said that if Ash hadn't taken it out of the fight it would be allot worse and as it was she suspected a day of rest would be enough.

Ash still couldn't help but blame himself he should have known Magikarp couldn't do such a powerful attack so many times, and because he didn't this happened.

While Ash was blaming himself Forrest came in and checked Rhyhorn into the centre for a stay too. Evidently the Pokémon had been injured and tired by the battle as well and needed treatment. "Hey Forrest" Ash greeted his usual excitement no longer present in his voice.

"Huh" Forrest turned to see the trainer he had beaten earlier that day "Oh, hey Ash. How's your Magikarp doing?"

"Nurse Joy said he should be ok with a day or two of treatment but…I'm still worried" Ash admitted trying to ignore the look of pity from Misty, he hated being pitied. He would rather her make fun of him than her pity him.

"You don't need to be, Nurse Joy is an excellent nurse. I'm sure she'll be able to get Magikarp into great condition" Forrest reassured patting the slightly younger boy on the shoulder.

"It's not that, I know she will be great. I just…I just feel like I shouldn't have let Magikarp battle" Ash said and was immediately slapped by Misty. "What was that for?"

"You can't refuse to use Magikarp in battle just because it's not strong yet. That's the whole reason it needs to battle" she yelled looking like she might slap him again.

"I know that…" he trailed off but a warning look from Misty forced him to continue "I just feel guilty for letting Magikarp get injured trying to win the battle for me" Misty's glare softened slightly and she raised a hand to nurse his cheek, she almost seemed to feel guilty for slapping him, but Ash knew that was impossible.

"You can't think like that Ash. Pokémon get injured all the time, obviously you shouldn't dismiss it but it is unfortunately something that you'll have to get use to if you're going to be a trainer" Forrest advised calmingly taking a seat next to Ash.

Silence took over the room as all in it thought about Pokémon and battling. Eventually Ash's face changed slightly to a more confident one and he nodded showing his understanding. "Yeah I guess your right"

Forrest smiled at this adjusting in his seat to face Ash, for a while they talked about nothing in particular, just idle chat about Pokémon-the only thing they knew they had in common-and eventually the topic got to the gym.

"The problem is that my brother doesn't want me to be a gym leader" Forrest complained sitting back and folding his arms in a childish way. "He still thinks I'm just a little kid" Misty fought the urge to point out that he was behaving like a little kid right now, or that he was only about ten which would make him being a gym leader exceptionally rare.

"He should be happy that I want to run the gym, it would mean he could go on a journey" Forrest continued folding his arms tighter and huffing.

"Your brother wants to go on a journey too" Ash repeated dumbly, he never really thought about gym leaders going on journeys before.

"Yeah, you see the reason my brother runs the gym is that my father is sick and can't run it himself. This meant that my brother never got to go on a journey since he had to take over running the gym straight away. Now that I'm old enough I want to run the gym, but Brock won't let me have his Onix"

The last statement confused Ash "What does taking Brocks Onix have to do with anything?"

"It's the gyms signature Pokémon. According to dad the person who runs the gym always has to have an Onix. Brock got an Onix as his first Pokémon but I got Rhyhorn" Forrest explained gesturing to the counter with a pout.

"So go and catch an Onix yourself" Ash said as if doing so was the easiest thing in the world.

"I would but…" he drifted off looking in a different direction blushing in embarrassment.

"But…" Misty probed her curiosity peaked.

"While there is rumour of one living in Mount Moon, it's believed to live at the lowest level. I tried going down there by myself a few days back but I … got lost" he finished once again breaking eye contact.

They sat in silence for a few seconds as they all thought about what Forrest had said; finally Ash's face lit up as if a light bulb had gone off in his head. "I know, I'll come with you to make sure you don't get lost again"

"Ash, he wants to not get lost not be lost forever" Misty yelled hitting him on the arm playfully. Ash turned and glared at her for a second before returning his focus to Forrest "So what do you say?"

"Well that real nice and all-" Ash ignored his nervous tone completely and started bouncing from excitement.

"Great, pack your things and we'll leave first thing in the morning" Ash yelled pushing the helpless child towards the door.

"But uh, um" Ash continued to ignore him as he turned grab Misty by the hand and charged forward ready for the journey in Mount Moon, or at least ready to prepare for the journey.

A/N

I decided to do an au version of the stay in Pewter City and was so proud of my original idea…then hen looking into Forrest as a character saw that the original anime has him become a gym leader. Initially it wasn't even him, it was camper Jerry from the games but then I remembered all Brocks siblings from the anime and went with it for the one I could name. At least the Onix part didn't come up in the anime.

The reason I chose this is because I knew I couldn't do the Flint story as well as some other people have in the past and didn't want to fail in comparison, although I don't think it would have been hard to beat the original anime version but still, wanted something different.

Please review with your thoughts of this chapter what's happening with the characters and the story in general.

Please review-repeating it as if that will make you do it.


	5. Trouble at Mount Moon

Ash, Misty and there newest friend Forrest stood just outside the entrance to Mount Moon's deepest part. This was the part that Forrest had been worried about but Ash had forced them to come the whole way.

As they were walking though the cave they heard the sounds of Pokémon, only these weren't the ordinary sounds of Pokémon. This was the sounds of Pokémon battling. He could hear a high pitch cry of pain.

Ash ran around the corner the others following his lead. What he saw surprised him. The room had been lit up, lights all over the place. As he looked in he then saw that a Paras and Clefairy were being attacked by an angry looking Geodude and a group of Zubat. They had blood shot angry eyes and deep black bags, Ash assumed that they had been woken up when they didn't want to be.

The Paras in a surprising show of bravery moved forwards, putting itself between the attacking Pokémon and Clefairy. The Geodude didn't like this though as it viewed it a sign of aggression, it charged forward fist cocked back for an attack.

"We have to stop this" Ash called getting a chorus of 'right' from his travelling companions. "Fearow use peck attack" the bird did as it was commanded going straight for Zubat and beginning its attack.

"Rhyhorn hit Geodude with a horn attack" Forrest commanded his large Pokémon launching at the smaller one stopping it in its path.

"Misty choses Starmie" she twirled around as she released her Pokémon "Protect Paras and Clefairy from the other Zubat. The purple star Pokémon started spinning quickly stopping the nearest Zubat from being able to launch an assault and knocking into a wall. "Now use water gun"

The powerful torrent of water hit all the weak bat Pokémon flinging them back making them flee screeching wildly. Geodude was also defeated when Rhyhorn's horn smashed it into a wall defeating it.

"Poke ball go" Forrest cried throwing two poke balls, one at Zubat another at Geodude.

Both connected shacking a few times before finally settling, the red light then turned off proving the capture.

"Paras par" the small bug Pokémon flanked by Clefairy walked up to Ash nuzzling his leg affectionately.

"Heh, nice to meet you" Ash sat down not caring about the dust getting on his cloths. Clefairy responded by jumping into the trainers lap.

"Clefairy" it said in a sing song voice nuzzling into his chest affectionately.

"Guys this is real nice and all, but I got to go. We're on an important mission" the Pokémon looked at him blankly before Clefairy hit his poke ball quickly being sucked up in a red light with no shakes showing it to be an effortless capture. Seeing this Paras followed suit also hitting a ball and getting sucked up.

"Heh, guess I caught some new Pokémon" Ash chuckled rubbing the back of his head.

Pokémon-Pokémon-Pokémon

The rest of the trek went off without a hitch and so they were at nearly there.

But now was where things get hard, first they would have to climb down this slope-which is made especially hard by the lack of lighting-then they would have the real challenge of finding and defeating the Onix.

Misty had brought a touch, being the only one to actually have the foresight to do so and was able to see that this part of the cave was as boring as the rest. It was large, almost completely square shaped with a very high ceiling.

"So where's the Onix?" she asked already aggressive due to the fact that they had gotten lost like seven times despite Forrest claims of knowing the mountain like that 'back of his hand' apparently the fact he had gotten lost his first time around wasn't good enough evidence that he didn't.

"Um, we have to go round that corner" he pointed to the far wall a little nervous, this girl was always angry for some reason.

"Humph" Ash decided to remained quiet, Misty was in a bad mood-as always-and he didn't want to end up on the receiving end.

When they reached the corner they were surprised to see that cracks in the ceiling were letting light in so they could see a little better. They were also surprised to see what appeared to be a camp with a pissed off looking girl and a Sandshrew sitting beside her.

"I see your back; I would have hoped you'd learned your lesson by now" she said not even turning around creeping Ash out, all he could tell from here is that she had brown hair in a ponytail "I already sent you away twice after all"

"T-this time I'm going to win" Forrest yelled back trying to sound confident but instead just sounding scared. The girl took a bite out of something that was in a pan not even acknowledging him "Hey… don't ignore me"

The girl sighed as she finally turned around revealing beautiful perfectly symmetrical-man Ash notices weird things-face with bright blue eyes "I don't have time for this, Sandshrew deal with him" she commanded the little Pokémon instantly standing up and sizing up its opponent.

"Zubat go!" Forrest cried the small bat-Pokémon appearing.

"Seriously, you think you can win with that thing" she commented dryly as she took a bite of food from her bowl.

"Forrest what's going on? Who is this?" Ash said sick of being confused and ignored.

"I can win; Zubat has a type advantage so I will win!" Forrest cried completely ignoring Ash making him pout. He was here to help Forrest and now he was being ignored, he hated being ignored!

"Sandshrew, rock slide" she commanded and instantly Sandshrew obeyed hitting into the wall and knocking a large rock onto the bat. It fell to the ground hard before turning red and being sucked into its ball. The whole thing lasted a few seconds, it was kind of sad really.

"What just happened?" Ash asked confused even further by what just happened.

"It's the emergency recall, a safeguard in all poke balls to return a defeated Pokémon. It's used so people don't push them too hard causing serious injury" Misty explained a slightly awed expression on her face "Clearly this is a powerful trainer considering how easily she was able to force it to happen"

"That was even faster than usual, you clearly aren't a very good trainer otherwise you would know your limitations and would have given up by now. I'm going now. I don't expect to see you again" the mysterious girl said turning and leaving with a pleased looking Sandshrew following behind.

Silence came over the room as they watched the girl leave Forrest looking down in shame. Every time he came up against her he lost, he should have known this would have ended the same. He felt the stares of his travelling companions on him and knew he had to explain.

"Her names Blue, and she's the most powerful trainer I've ever seen" Forrest explained as he stood completely still feeling like he had been paralysed by her power.

"Ok, but why did you fight her then if you knew you wouldn't win?"

"She won't let me in if I can't beat that Sandshrew of hers at least once, its already beat my Rhyhorn twice but I was hoping that using a flying type would make it easier" Forrest said sighing and preparing to leave.

"What are you doing?" Misty spat disgusted by his behaviour.

"I'm going to take Zubat to the centre to be checked out, and then I'm going home. I'll never be able to defeat her" he whined not even glancing back in there direction.

"What about the Onix? You can't just give up after dragging us all this way!" Misty yelled hands on her hips making Ash take a step away from her.

"But she won't let me in; she says she wants to capture the Onix so I'm not allowed"

"She can't do that, no trainers aloud to claim a Pokémon before capturing it" Ash yelled indignantly throwing his arms into the air.

"Trainers aren't supposed to, but she can" Forrest said stopping walking but not turning to see them.

"No she can't" Ash turned grabbing the poor boy and pushing him further into the cave "We're going to capture that Onix and there's nothing she or anyone else can do about it"

Forrest just cursed his bad luck "You know you and your girlfriend are really pushy"

Ash to his credit didn't break his stride "She's not my girlfriend she's my streaker there's a different you know" Ash said pushing him a little harder to emphasis his point.

"What?"

"WHAT?" Misty yelled fury and venom in her voice "How dare you say such a thing about a lady, how dare you" Misty screamed pulling a mallet out of thin air and preparing to hit the boy with it if he didn't take what he just said back as soon as possible.

"But you are my streaker, your streaking me right now if you think about it" Ash yelled defensively either not worried about being hit or too stupid to process the threat, Misty was about to hit when Forrest spoke up saving the boy.

"Um, I think he means stalker not streaker" Forrest chipped in feeling bad for the fearless-or extremely dense-boy.

Misty stopped just before she could strike when Ash finally asked "Wha-what's the difference?"

"Well a stalker is someone who follows someone around like Mist-" he cut himself off when he received a death glare from the fiery red head "A streaker is more like…" he drifted off not sure if he should say it or not "Well it's something Misty isn't" he concluded receiving an approving nod from the girl.

"Oh, ok I'm sorry Misty, I'm sorry for saying you're a streaker…what is one anyway?"

A brief pause ensued where Ash smiled dumbly and Misty glared at him deciding what she should do next. She stared at him for a bit before deciding he wasn't ready "Maybe when you're a little more mature"

Pokémon-Pokémon-Pokémon

Ash and his friends continued on into the cave after Blue determined to catch the Onix before she could. They were only slightly surprised when they soon discovered that, like basically everywhere else in this mountain it was a maze.

They continued on however, ever searching for any signs of an Onix that is until "Stop right there" Forrest practically jumped out of his skin expecting to see a very angry Blue.

But when he turned that isn't what he found.

Instead it was a man with blue hair down to his shoulders and a woman with long curved red hair. "Prepare for trouble" the woman began confusing Forrest.

"And make it double" the man continued making Forrest wonder if they were travelling performers.

"To protect the world from devastation" Forrest noticed Ash reaching for a poke ball.

"To unite all people within our nation" Ash then released the Pokémon revealing a Weedle.

"To denounce the evils of truth and love" Misty followed suit revealing a powerful Starmie.

"To extend our reach to the starts above" finally getting the hint Forrest released his newly captured Geodude.

"Jessie" they seemed complete oblivious to the Pokémon being released.

"James" it was like they were in their own little world.

"Team Rocket blast off at the speed of light" Ash and Misty looked unimpressed by the idiots in front of them.

"Surrender now or prepare to fight" this was boring.

"Meowth that's right" Ash started clapping Forrest joining in due to confusion.

"How'd you guys get out of prison?" Ash asked instantly wanting to know so he could prevent it happening again.

"We tunnelled out" Jessie bragged proudly holding up a shovel.

"They let you have shovels" Ash couldn't believe that the police were THAT stupid.

"Well no we had to…hide them" James supplied looking down in shame.

"Where could you hide a shovel?" they looked around awkwardly all of them-especially James-looked ashamed as they thought about what they had been forced to do. Finally Jessie had enough.

"We don't want to talk about it ok!" Jessie yelled throwing out her poke ball "Ekans teach these twerps a lesson"

"Koffing Go" from the balls emerged a purple ball of gas-Koffing- and a small purple snake –Ekans-Forrest couldn't help but grin. This was going to be so easy.

"Ha-ha-ha, I bet you twerps want to know why we're here. We'll tell you then we are here to-"

"We don't have time for this" Misty cried irritated by the sudden intrusion by the idiots "Starmie water gun"

"Weedle poison sting" Ash joined in also wanting to get back to the matter at hand.

"Geodude rock throw" Forrest added wanting to be helpful.

All three attacks hit at once, the poison sting hitting Meowth who fell over from the shock the rock throw hitting Koffing knocking him out the air and the water gun hitting Ekans.

"How dare you ignore us when we're telling you our plans" Ash thought about questioning their desire to reveal their plan but decided against it; helping enemy's improve is never a good idea. "Ekans use wrap attack" the small snake let out a cry of its name as it approached the starfish Pokémon to do as it was ordered.

"Dodge it Starmie" Misty commanded Starmie complying with ease resulting in Ekans hitting straight into a wall. "Now finish it off with rapid spin" the purple Pokémon complied spinning with incredible speed before crashing into the poor snake knocking it unconscious and breaking the wall on top of it.

Soon after Starmie's attack the red light of an emergency recall was started, and Ekans was forcefully returned to its ball to injured to continue.

Ash's fight was similarly easy "Ow-Ow-Ow quit it already!" Meowth cried dancing around in a futile attempt to avoid the projectiles.

"Keep going Weedle you can do this!" Ash encouraged somewhat pointlessly since Weedle wasn't having any trouble at all trying to fight Meowth. The cat Pokémon was not a fighter; he also wasn't a thinker or anything else really so he stood no chance at all.

"Weedle" it cried in victory when the Pokémon finally fell to the ground swirls in its eyes signifying its defeat.

"Alright Weedle" Ash cheered running up and hugging the small worm Pokémon.

"Wee-ee-ee-ee-dle" the small Pokémon started glowing, the bright light emitting from it stunning as it changed its shape in his arms. It didn't last very long though and soon was in the shape of a small armoured cocoon with triangular black eyes "Kakuna!"

"Alright you evolved, I'm so excited to see how much stronger you've become. I bet your can use all kinds of new moves now" Ash cheered obliviously, before hugging the small Pokémon even closer "Your my first Pokémon to evolve and I'm very proud of you" the Kakuna in his arms let out a pleased noise as he continued to fawn over it.

Forrest's had a similarly easy battle, his Geodude having grabbed several large rocks from the ground and hurled them at Koffing causing major damage to the levitating Pokémon.

"Koffing don't take that, use Sludge attack" the large floating blob did as it was commanded shooting a black sludge at Geodude.

"Come on Geodude I know we can beat this weakling, use defence curl" Forrest commanded the rock with arms curling up allowing it to resist most the damage that the attack would otherwise cause the sludge being repelled easily "Now go into a rollout attack"

Geodude started spinning quickly and before James or Koffing could react had connected hitting Koffing back into James, then both hitting into the other Team Rocket members shooting them through a wall. "Team Rockets blasting of again!" could be heard from the screaming trio before they disappeared completely.

"Hey look, that wall Geodude broke down leads to a new part of the cave" Misty pointed revealing to them the large room they now had access to.

"Arrgh" a loud deep roar was sounded from inside the roar.

"That's an Onix, we have to go" Forrest said charging though the hole in the wall and jumping into the room inside as he had said a large Onix lay looking at the intruders with malice in its eyes "Onix, my name is Forrest and I'm the future gym lea-" he was cut off by a loud roar from Onix followed shortly after by his tail swinging at Forrest.

The movement was clumsy so Forrest was able to dodge; but only just.

"Not looking to talk then, fine Geodude get in there and use tackle" he yelled pointing at Onix confidently, Geodude promptly floated down before launching at Onix. The attack connected, but not with the desired effect.

Geodude was unable to do any clear damage and was soon wrapped up in Onix's tail due to the close proximity. "Ah, Geodude return" Forrest shot the beam but it simply bounced of the tail of Onix. "Crap!"

Forrest began panicking, his Pokémon was in danger but he was completely unable to help. He had already come to realise that he had made the exact same mistake in his battle with Ash earlier-although he doubted he would be smart enough to figure it out without Brock pointing it out to him-and now he was doing the exact same thing!

"Magikarp, dragon rage" Ash called the small fish unleashing a powerful attack at the large rock snake eliciting a roar of pain and freeing Geodude. "Magikarp return" Ash knew it couldn't handle much more at this point, he had been planning on not using dragon rage because it was to draining but Forrest's Geodude being in that bind attack forced his hand.

Geodude was covered in cracks and was clearly showing signs of fatigue, he couldn't battle any more. Forrest knew this and so did the only thing that he could do at this point.

"Geodude return" he said the red light taking in the small Pokémon "Rhyhorn into battle"

"Guys step back, I got this" Misty yelled stepping forward poke ball in hand. This was an Onix, a rock and ground type that would be easy for her water Pokémon to defeat.

"No Misty" Forrest turned looking back at the girl "I have to do this by myself, Rhyhorn use horn attack" the tank like Pokémon was released from its ball and promptly charged doing as it was told and soon hit the already weakened Onix.

"What a stubborn brat, he should be begging for my help and he rejects it" Misty said stomping on Ash's foot accidently.

"Ow, Misty watch what you're doing, that hurt" Ash whined jumping up and down.

"Sorry" Misty said smiling earning a glare from the boy, she didn't seem sorry at all! But she was brought back to the matter at hand when she heard Forrest yell out a command reminding her of anger "Forrest should just let me help him already"

"No he shouldn't" they turned to see Brock standing behind them making them both jump; when did he arrive. "Forrest is finally fighting for himself, he needs to do this"

"There's nothing wrong with accepting help when it's offered" Ash chipped in his foot now recovered.

"That's true, but for Forrest this is different. He has always relied on others, that's why I couldn't let him run the gym, because I knew he would just start asking for help eventually" he paused letting the information sink in.

"So the Onix thing" Misty queried joining in on the conversation.

"Crap, I made it up so he'd stop whining" Brock paused briefly watching as Forrest's Rhyhorn charged the Onix once again before jumping to narrowly avoid a strong smack from the Onix tail at Forrest's command "You see, I've always cared for Forrest and tried to protect him. Really I protect him too much. He expected me to just make him a gym leader; not making him put any effort into it"

"After I told him about needing an Onix he thought I would just give him mine, he didn't even offer a trade he just thought I would give it to him" once again he paused watching as Forrest ordered Rhyhorn to dive to get in close before stomping on the large rock snake.

"Then when I told him about this Onix" Brock gestured to the large snake currently roaring in pain "He expected me to catch it for him, he didn't even try for about a month. Then-then" Brock chuckled slightly before continuing "Then when he finally went he came back later that day having been beat up by a girl-Blue apparently-and he wanted me to deal with her for him"

Ash chuckled too earning a smack to the back of the head from Misty but he didn't question it. "When he came here with you guys I thought it would be the same, so I followed you to make sure he actually contributed and didn't just have you two do everything" he paused this time smiling proudly at his brother who looked to be winning at this point as his Rhyhorn broke free of a loose bind attack and crashed its horn into its larger foes face "But it seems he's already starting to change for the better"

Forrest was battling hard, harder than he had ever battled before. He felt almost as if he was joining with Rhyhorn in some way, there spirit and energy becoming one as they worked towards the common goal of fighting Onix.

He knew this was the best he had ever battled; he also knew he was winning. This was his moment. This was what he had been building up to with all the training he had done over the years with Rhyhorn.

He was finally becoming a man, something nobody could ever take away from him.

Nobody except…

"Sandshrew magnitude" the disinterested voice came from the entrance to the cavern; Forrest turned slowly not wanting to believe what he knew to be true. His fears were confirmed when he turned and saw Blue standing confidently with her Sandshrew charging into battle.

The Sandshrew became surrounded by a dark aura before jumping and crashing into the ground hard. The resulting shockwave shook the whole room and caused Onix to fall with swirls in its eyes.

The force of the magnitude attack had also been great enough to remove Forrest's last Pokémon, Rhyhorn-who was already weakened and tired from the battle- another forceful recall of one of Forrest's Pokémon leaving him helpless.

"Poke ball go" the poke ball connected, shaking once, twice, three times then with a ding the red light in the centre turned off signalling the successful capture.

"Hey, you can't do that. That's stealing" Forrest yelled running over to where Blue was picking up her poke ball ready to leave.

"What are you talking about? I captured an Onix now I'm going to leave with it" She corrected no emotion in her voice at all. She did even turn to look at him, acting as if he wasn't even worth acknowledging.

"B-but I weakened it, you can't have it its mine" Ash, Brock and Misty approached behind him.

"Actually I can, and none of you can stop me" she turning around looking at them dully, Sandshrew at her side reflecting this.

"Oh yeah" Ash yelled indignantly throwing his fist in the air.

"Yeah, you four don't seem to have noticed but this whole place is on the verge of collapse" she gestured to the walls-some of which were already missing- which were full of cracks and holes "Unless you want to be buried alive I suggest you leave me be and let me get on with my business, and that's ignoring the fact that I could beat all of you with only one Pokémon"

Ash knew he had to stop her, after what she said and what she had done not doing so would be wrong; Forrest had fought hard to beat that Onix only for her to take it away. It wasn't fair. But when he tried to move forward he was stopped by Brocks outstretched arm "She right, we should leave soon"

Brock pointed to the exit which he knew led towards Cerulean city. "But Brock, I know I can beat her and force her to give me back Onix" Forrest complained indignant at having lost his chance of becoming a gym leader.

Brock smiled at this deciding not to tell Forrest that she had already challenged and easily defeated him "I'm sure you could but it doesn't matter, doing so would technically be stealing a Pokémon"

"But she stole it first" Ash pointed out folding his arms in a childish gesture.

"Yes but unless we can somehow prove that taking it back would be illegal, and we have no way of proving it" Brock surmised as they made their way up and out of the mountain.

"Humph, that's stupid" Ash muttered now pouting to make himself look even more like a child.

"Yeah, but that's the law. The laws stupid, you get used to it though" Brock paused and they could swear he was blushing slightly although they couldn't think why, he snapped out of it before they could ask "Anyway, Forrest doesn't need that Onix to become a gym leader"

Forrest, who up until now had been looking down sadly perked up "I don't, but you said-"

"I said you need an Onix, that's why I'm going to trade with you" Brock reached down and took Zubat's poke ball off of Forrest's belt "You're a rock-type gym leader, having a Zubat is unnecessary so we'll trade your Zubat for my Onix" Brock said releasing the giant rock snake.

"You're ok with it right buddy" Brock asked getting an affirmative roar in response.

"Alright I'm a gym leader" Forrest cried jumping up in celebration "And I know exactly what I'm going to do first" he turned to Ash "And I want you to be my first challenger"

"But we're nowhere near the gym" Ash didn't want to walk the whole way back, especially since the cave was so close to collapsing that they no longer had the option of going though it as a short cut.

"A gym is just a building, you can have a battle anywhere" Brock chipped in "As long as it's a proper test of skill it's aloud"

"Um, ok then" Ash nodded running a decent distance away "So we battle here then"

Brock nodded "I'll be the referee, you guys chose your Pokémon and begin when your ready"

"Onix I chose you" Forrest cried his newest Pokémon coming out with a powerful roar. Ash looked at the Onix and thought.

He knew he didn't have any Pokémon with a type advantage; Fearow would be at a disadvantage so even though he was Ash's strongest he still felt it was a bad choice and all the rest were in low forms. He definitely wouldn't use Magikarp having learnt from that mistake so that left Clefairy and Paras. While Paras was in a low from it was also a grass type giving it an advantage. Although his scan had revealed that it knew no damaging grass type attacks he might be able to come up with a strategy to utilise what he could do.

"Paras I choose you" it was risky but he hoped he could get it to work.

The Pokémon appeared looking quite excited for its first battle. Ash took this as a good sign. "Onix screech attack" Ash covered his ears quickly knowing what was coming. Not that it made any difference, the horrible sound went right though his and everyone else's hands causing them all pain.

"Paras use leach life" a small pin shaped projectile was shot from the Pokémon's mouth flying at the giant rock snake. It connected easily sending a dark red line of energy back to its sender.

"Ash I thought you would be smarter than this, Leech life is too weak to do any damage" Forrest bragged despite himself before pointing forward "Now Onix bind attack"

The screeching stopped making Ash smile and he smiled more when he realised Onix was doing what he thought it would. It was going in close. "Paras spore" Paras complied as Onix drew closer releasing a cloud of thick yellow dust by shaking his back.

"No Onix get out of there" but it was too late, Onix had already breathed it in, and the powerful rock snake fell to the side fortunately meaning it didn't hit Paras who jumped up and down proud of its victory.

"Well Ash you've earned this" Forrest moved forwards taking the badge out his pocket "I'm glad that the first badge I give away goes to you" he said as Ash tentatively reached out and took the badge.

"Alright I got a boulder badge" He cried thrusting his hand forward and striking a pose immediately regretting it as he heard Misty's laughter making him blush in embarrassment.

"Oh and Ash, I have something I would like to ask you" Ash turned to look at Brock. "I would like to travel with you, you see my real dream is to become a world class breeder and travelling with a group of trainers would really help that goal" Brock explained slightly surprising Forrest.

"Sure" Ash said casually shrugging his shoulders despite barley knowing what a breeder was.

"Great, then Forrest" he turned to his younger brother "I guess this is goodbye"

Forrest's eyes widened-at least it looked like that to Ash he wasn't really sure- at this "Aren't you going to go home and say goodbye to everyone else?"

"I already have, I had a feeling you'd be a gym leader by the end of the day and it was right. Everybody already knows I'm gone but you" after a few minutes of hugs and tearful goodbyes, followed by a few minutes of being awkwardness due to the large amounts of emotions the two departed Brock going with Ash and Misty and Forrest heading back to his home town to become an official gym leader.

As they walked they soon got away from the mountain and onto green grass "Hey Brock, is it normal to get this involved with the lives of the gym leaders you meet" Ash asked jokingly as he continued to walk towards his destination.

"Well the only reason it worked out like that is because you and Forrest met up outside the gym, so unless you plan on doing that with another gym leader I think you'll be fine" they laughed after this but Misty didn't join in instead she just looked awkward and for some reason a little irritated, neither of them noticed though.

"Hey look a sign" Ash ran forward and looked at it a broad grin taking over his face "Good we're nearly at Cerulean city" he cried fighting the urge to dance…he didn't fight hard enough though as he was soon dancing around like an idiot charging towards the sign.

"Your right Ash, this road leads straight to cerulean city" Misty's head shot up at this but no one noticed "And there's also something else carved into the sign here, Gary was here, Ash is a loser" Brock read Ash stopping his dance to come over and look.

Instead of getting to cerulean city before night fall like Brock had planned they had to arrive the next day because Ash was busy 'fixing' the sign. He changed it by remove words to says 'Gary was a loser' insisting that he had meant to do it that way when questioned.

A/N

Hmmm, not sure how I feel about this chapter I actually stopper when nearly done and thought about restarting but instead decided on editing some stuff but still… if people hate it please say so and I'll do a better version.

I made up the emergency recall mostly, it appears in origins but not by that name with every defeated Pokémon coming back in that way and it sometimes happens in the anime like in the power of one 2000 movies Charizard is returned without a commanded when he gets wet so it makes sense that it exists I just thought I would explain.

For those of you who are wondering Blue will be a rival, how big I won't say yet as I'm still deciding. Since I actually haven't decided yet, only thing about her I haven't decided on, what do you think her starter should be. Bear in mind Gary gets his last, serious he is shown leaving he Ash arrived so while few stories go into it it's likely that if Ash were on time he would have ended up getting Pikachu instead which would be hilarious-off topic but still just throwing the idea out there see if anyone picks it up – so you can also change Gary's if you want by giving her a different one and if you like give your option for Gary's as well. Hmm might do a poll for this at some point with the options…first I have to reveal trainer number four,

So please review with any thoughts comments or your vote for the starters of everyone


	6. The Water Flowers of Cerulean City

A/N

Review reply: Ary sorry this is late but I had been planning on making all responses to reviews though PM's, yeah I know what you mean about including Pikachu in this because it's so well associated with Ash. The reason I'm not planning on doing so, although I did think about it again when you mentioned it, is that I think there isn't anything new I could do with Pikachu. Between the anime, manga's and other things I really don't think there is anything that Pikachu can do that hasn't already been done. Although I might include a Pokémon that isn't in its ball but I'm not completely sure yet it might even end up being more than one.

Before I start I would like to go through the character ages:

Ash: 13

Misty: 14 (roughly 9 months older than Ash)

Brock: 18

The reason for these is not random, at least not fully. There a compromise of the age gaps of electric tales and the anime. For those of you who don't know the ages gap is Ash being 2 years younger than Misty who is 3 years younger than Brock. In the anime there is no gap between Ash and Misty and Brock is 5 years older than them. So I went with an in-between value for each age gap.

Now to begin the actual story

Ash, Misty and the newest addition to their little group Brock are currently making their way to Cerulean city and Ash's next badge. Ash and Brock were looking forward to arriving; Ash to get his next badge and Brock said he was excited to get to a Pokémon centre. Ash didn't know why a Pokémon centre would be exciting but decided to just leave it alone since Brock always drifted off and made strange noises when he tried to ask.

"You know Ash I really don't think you should go to Cerulean city" Misty said trying to sound casual, trying being the key word as she was clearly failing. Fortunately Ash was barley listening and only let out a listless 'Uh huh' in response. "The Pokémon there are all really bad scary ghost-type Pokémon after all"

This caused Ash to stop dead and turn to her with a completely serious expression on his face "Really?"

"Yeah, the whole place is full of them so you wouldn't want to go there" she continued bouncing slightly; it seemed her plan was working.

"Ghost Pokémon that sounds…" he trailed off looking for the right word "Awesome, I'm going to catch as many as I can. I've always wanted to have a ghost type, I hear they're really fun to play with" he and Brock then turned and continued on their way to Cerulean City.

Seeing this Misty panicked and in doing so ran ahead and stretched her arms out in front of the duo "How about Vermillion city, its right by the beach and you can watch all the giant yachts pulling into the harbour…" she drifted off trying to think of something other than water, it was her favourite thing in the whole world though so not thinking about it was quiet a task "and there's this little park on top a hill where you can sit and watch the sun set… it's so romantic" she spewed her voice airy as if she was in a dream.

This didn't go unnoticed by Ash; he may be dense at times. He may also miss most romantic cues, or just cues in general to be honest, but that didn't stop him from getting the really obvious ones. Like how obvious it was that Misty had a crush on Brock.

It was the only explanation. Brock turns up and in less than a day Misty starts trying to get the group to go to places for the sole reason that they are 'romantic' clearly she had fallen for the man, Ash being the nice guy he is decided that he would help this happen, as a gift to his friends.

"Ok Misty you and Brock can go to that hill when we get to Vermillion" Ash spoke Misty instantly jumping forwards in a pleased gesture having missed what Ash was implying "Right after we leave Cerulean that is"

Misty face palmed at his annoying way of dealing with things as he and Brock once again began walking off without her. It's like they didn't even realise it was rude to walk away from a lady. They should be worshipping the ground she walks on-especially Ash-yet they treated her like she doesn't even exist-especially Ash.

Pokémon-Pokémon-Pokémon

A little later Ash and Brock had finally arrived in Cerulean City, Ash had noticed Misty was gone but Brock didn't seem to care so he let it go. Then when they walked in Brock separated as he had 'stuff' to check out.

He refused to say what, which had made Ash suspicious, but then Ash dismissed since Brock really didn't seem like the type of person to do bad things. When he arrived at the gym he found a huge Dewgong sign over the door. He assumed this meant it was water type gym.

This was confirmed when he entered and saw a giant pool. But he then questioned whether or not it was a gym when he entered the gym and instead of seeing a fierce battle he saw three sisters in the middle of a synchronised swimming event. One had blue hair, another pink and the final had the only normal colour blond.

He decided to stay and watch the show, not because they were attractive, but because in reality he was interested in synchronised swimming. At least that's what the normal part of his mind was convinced of by the ever growing girl obsessed part.

Pokémon-Pokémon-Pokémon

After watching the show he went back stage to try to find the gym leader, or at least someone involved in the gym that could help him. He was shocked to find a giant aquarium lined the walls filled with all kinds of fish he had never even seen before. Rare water Pokémon and fish alike swam around happily in the giant luxurious display tanks.

He then heard the synchronised swimmers as they came around the corner talking about the performance they had just done. 'There even prettier up close' Ash observed deciding not to voice that particular stray thought. "Excuse me"

"I'm sorry but if you like, want an interview you have to call our manager" the pink haired one said although she didn't seem sorry at all. If anything she seemed a proud of herself for having dismissed him so casually.

"No I'm here for a-" Ash was cut off as the pink-haired one once again began speaking.

"We don't do autographs" now she was talking down to him like he was a little kid, Ash was beginning to find this girl very annoying.

"No, that's not it at all. I'm just here looking for the gym leader" Ash said although he still wasn't sure if this even was a gym. While there were defiantly lots of Pokémon in the tanks there was still no evidence of a gym leader or anywhere to battle.

"You're looking at them" the blue-haired one said in a bubbly voice.

They then struck poses that clearly had been practiced several times to make them look as beautiful as possible showing off their curves in a way that made then impossible to ignore "We're the gym leaders here, that water stuff is just like, a hobby that our fans are into. We're actually like, world famous" the blond spoke explaining everything although Ash still thought it was slightly weird, he had been told gym leaders were always serious and focused on becoming as strong as possible. These girls were anything but serious.

"We pool our talents to make a big splash" the blue-haired one said the others all laughing at her joke together making Ash jump slightly now thinking that they were all idiots.

Pokémon-Pokémon-Pokémon

Later by the poolside- the pool apparently was where they would be battling- Ash declared his challenge loudly-something Brock said was standard "I CHALLENGE YOU ALL TO A BATTLE!" The girls gave him a confused look making Ash silently curse Brock; he could just imagine him sitting in the Pokémon centre laughing at what he caused now the airheads would think he was the stupid one.

Fortunately they were willing to push past his random yelling, or so he thought "We don't feel like battling right now…" the eldest that he now knew to be Daisy said hands behind her head.

Ash blinked staying completely silent for a second as he tried to process what they had just said, finally he spoke "…What?" they couldn't deny his request, not unless Brock had lied to Ash twice.

"We just got beat like two times in a row by kids from this no-where place called Pallet town" this depressed Ash since it meant he was behind two of them, but at least he was ahead of one. That counted for something … right?

"They were both full six-on-six battles too; we had to rush all our Pokémon to the centre when we were done" Daisy spoke now sounding slightly apologetic.

"This is the only one left" The girl known as Lily said enlarging a ball and throwing it gently into water so the Goldeen could appear swimming around slowly and happily.

"All it can do is horn attack"

"So there's no point in battling"

"At least we now have more time to focus on making ourselves even more beautiful" Ash was slightly amused by them perfectly continuing on from each other's sentences, if nothing else they were really good at that. But he still couldn't help the disappointed look that marred his features as he thought about not being able to get a gym badge.

"I know what you want" Daisy said sounding pleased with herself before clapping "Seel" a small Seel appeared swimming up to the girl and sticking its tongue out. Ash was surprised when he saw a tear drop shaped gym badge on its tongue, it seemed a little irresponsible to leave all gym badges in the mouths of Pokémon. They could swallow them and get sick because of it!

"The Cascade badge, you can have it" she said holding it out to Ash.

"I really would rather battle or do some kind of test to get my badge" he said hoping that there was something he could do that would make this feel less like charity, but they didn't seem impressed instead they just stared at him like he was insane for rejecting it. He was knew they wouldn't be willing to fulfil this request, so he would have to just take it if he wanted to get into the Pokémon league and he was about to take it when….

"Hold it right there!" An angry voice that Ash knew all too well yelled from the stands.

"Sorry about her, she my stalker and has a tendency to get mad for no reason" he muttered noticing the girls smile evilly at this, like they had just gained some very useful information somehow.

"I told you not to say that! I'm not your stalker you idiot" she said jumping down the stands surprisingly gracefully as she insulted Ash-he knew he deserved it so didn't protest…much.

"At least I didn't call you my streaker this time" he thought that reminding her of that would make her laugh cheering her up, looking back he wouldn't be able to say why he thought that would happen. It was just so awkward he felt he had to say something and, as usual, he said something that made the situation worse.

People did laugh though, just not Misty.

"Oh my God Misty, I never thought you would, like, do that for a guy at your age" Lily cried bending over and holding her stomach as she let out a girly laugh.

"Yeah Misty, and you always said WE were too flirty" Violet pilled on making Misty's face go even redder, she wasn't blushing out of embarrassment, she was going red with powerful red hot rage.

Fortunately Daisy actually decided to try to make things a little better clearly sensing the rage of Misty "It's a surprise to see you back so soon" Ash could tell they already knew each other but he wasn't sure how. They clearly didn't get along well though so he was a little worried something bad would happen and he would somehow end up in the middle of it.

"Yeah I remember a certain little girl with a big mouth yelling about not coming back until she was water Pokémon master" Violet said making Misty madder and making Ash realise that they were childhood friends like him and Gary.

"I'm only here because of him!" she said pointing at Ash angrily, maybe he really should have avoided Cerulean like she asked adding a little time onto his journey to avoid this-whatever this is-might've actually been worth it.

"Oh my God you really are stalking him!" Lily yelled looking genuinely shocked by this but clearly not upset, if anything she looked excited.

"Yeah so much for the Pokémon master stuff, you just wanted a boyfriend" Violet chipping in an evil glint in her eye.

"I guess he is kind of cute in childish way… not who I'd pick but I suppose you can't have the same standards as the sensational Cerulean sisters" Daisy commented not trying to be rude, she just was naturally apparently.

"I am one of the four sensational Cerulean Sisters" she was cut off by Lily speaking.

'Or maybe their sisters' a voice in Ash's head said sarcastically making him frown, even his own mind thought he was dumb!

"There are only three beautiful sensational Cerulean sisters and one runt" She spat condemningly.

This made Ash frown, even if they were sisters that didn't make it alright to pick on Misty. She was his friend after all, well at least he viewed her as a friend he didn't know if it was mutual or not yet. "I think Misty's beautiful" Ash said being a nice guy who always sticks up for people, something he knew Misty would appreciate and thank him for.

Misty blushed furiously at this, why would Ash say that? Was he trying to embarrass her, he must be. She saw her sisters smirking at her and hated it. First her sisters made fun of her now Ash was embarrassing her, this was the worst! Not wanting to be a fool she did the only thing she could think of and pushed Ash to try to save face. If she acted angry that would make them know show didn't like Ash! Right…?

Ash's belief that she would be flattered and happy to be complimented was wrong, really it was the opposite as she pushed him making him almost lose balance before yelling "I don't like this him, I'm here to battle him proving I'm not a quitter and I'm a better trainer than you three"

Despite Misty being right in her face Daisy didn't seem phased in the least "Well you are the only one with a Pokémon that can battle"

"Alright Ash" she turned to see that the boy was now sitting down petting a happy Seel. "Don't ignore me; I'm the gym leader so let's battle"

Ash scratched under the white Pokémon chin making in let out a pleased sound ignoring Misty completely as he was too busy playing with his new Pokémon friend.

"Wow Misty even like, your own boyfriend ignores you" Lily chipped in from the side smirking amused by Ash's actions. She was actually finding she liked him quiet funny, although he was clearly not doing it on purpose.

That kind of made it funnier though.

Pokémon-Pokémon-Pokémon

When Ash was finally done playing with the water type Pokémon he made his way to a small floating platform in the pool, he was slightly irritated when the youngest sister informed him he would have to get it out to the centre of the pool himself meaning he had to slowly move it by paddling with his hands.

He was even more annoyed when Misty left to go get change due to her sister's insistence, finally she returned in a very form fitting wetsuit. "Ok, this'll be a two on two match between Ash of Pallet town and Misty the Cerulean City gym leader" Daisy said surprising Ash with how professional she was acting "Begin like, whenever" she concluded weakly forgetting the rest disappointing Ash, he didn't know why he let himself believe it would be any different.

Misty looked at Ash ready to battle, but she was shocked when she noticed what he was doing. He was staring right at her chest with his mouth slightly open. He was such a pervert! What Misty didn't know was that he had been doing it without realising what he was doing whilst he thought about a battle strategy. His only water Pokémon was Magikarp, who despite having Dragon Rage as a last ditch effort to win would still be risky but he didn't have another. He just couldn't think what to do.

He was broken away from his thoughts by a Shellder hitting him in the face "Stop staring at me you perv" Misty cried indignantly crossing her arms to cover her chest, Ash pulled the small Pokémon off his face before being struck by inspiration, he knew exactly how to beat Misty. All he needed was to use his genius plan.

"Hey Misty can I borrow Starmie for this battle?" Ash yelled across the field a huge grin that said 'I'm a genius' spreading across his face as he initiated his plan.

"No!" Misty screeched destroying Ash's happiness with one word.

"But-but we share Pokémon" Ash said making Misty even madder, the statement itself wasn't the problem it was hearing her sisters talking about it. She didn't make it all out but she definitely heard 'Sharing Pokémon' and 'definitely a couple'.

She reached for something to throw at them but found she had nothing left, Shellder having been the closest solid object. Finally she resorted to yelling "You really think I'm going to let you borrow my strongest Pokémon to battle me!"

"Yeah, what wrong with that? You said we would be able to use each other's Pokémon whenever we need too, so why not?" he pointed out thinking back to when they initially agreed to be able to use each other's Pokémon in battles.

"Because I'm going to use Starmie" she explained putting it simply so that he would understand.

"Oh…can I borrow a different Pokémon then?" she faced palmed, Ash was so stupid sometimes. It was physical painful talking to him when he acted like this.

"You can have the Shellder by your feat" she yelled sarcastically before she saw him bending over and talking to the small happy Pokémon. He started gently petting it and it looked like it nodded agreeing to help "You idiot I was being sarcastic, it's a baby you can't use it!"

"Sarcastic?" he responded jokingly smiling at her, although in all honestly he hadn't known it was a baby Shellder. He wasn't really familiar with the species so didn't know that it being this small wasn't normal.

Misty growled deeply throwing out her first Pokémon; Goldeen, before Ash followed her lead throwing out his best water Pokémon; Magikarp. He had decided once again to use Magikarp in a gym battle, he knew it wasn't a great idea but since it was a water gym it seemed like he should.

He knew this was Magikarp's element so he would be doing his best, he was also once again hoping that this would be the last little push required for Magikarp's evolution "I know you can do it Magikarp, Misty's no threat"

"Goldeen start off with Horn drill" an angry Misty commanded, he was seriously insulting her battling ability when he himself had been a trainer for all of three weeks! The fish obeyed charging right at the smaller weaker fish with its horn spinning. But to Misty's surprise- and fury- Ash just smirked.

"Magikarp, hold still for now" the Black fish did as it was told as Misty continued to encourage Goldeen to go faster and faster. Ash waited till the last possible second before shouting "into the air!" Misty was unable to react as her Goldeen crashed into the wall Magikarp had been in, its spinning horn broke through with ease.

Unfortunately this resulted in it being stuck in the wall. "AH, Goldeen quick use water gun on Magikarp" But it was impossible as Goldeen continued to struggle to remove its imbedded horn.

"Now Magikarp, tackle" Ash yelled excitedly as his black fish rotated in the air before launching itself at the defenceless Goldeen.

"Goldeen gold" Misty's Pokémon was cut off by the attack connecting, freeing its horn and throwing it deeper into the water.

Misty let out a guttural growl at this scaring Ash slightly; he had forgotten that he would be travelling with Misty after this. She could torture him for days if he got her any angrier! "Goldeen come back up with fury attack" Goldeen seemed to instantly regain control after this, the previously injured fish turning and swimming at Magikarp with great speed.

The attack connected easily and painfully throwing Ash's poor Pokémon back as it was hit again and again. "Magikarp get away from it" Ash cried knowing his Pokémon wasn't strong enough for a direct battle.

"Magikarp"

Magikarp was unable to this though as Goldeen continued its relentless assault. "Now finish it off with Water gun" Misty commanded her Pokémon who with a cry of its name initiated the attack.

"Dive" Ash yelled as loudly as possible and saw Magikarp try to do as it so, but he couldn't be sure if Magikarp succeeded due to the attack landing so quickly. The water kicked up obscured everything from everyone.

"You know Misty's pretty awesome" Daisy commented smiling proudly as she watched the battle.

"Well we got all the beauty in the family so it figures she would get at least some talent" Lily dismissed waiting with intrigue to see the result of the battle.

Ash finally saw what he was hoping to see, Magikarp under the water. The fish Pokémon was clearly injured, clearly it was at least partially hit, but was still able to go. Ash paused momentarily thinking, he knew he didn't have long-Misty would see Magikarp soon-and he knew this would likely be his last chance.

He was tempted to go for Dragon rage, but in its condition doing so could result in Magikarp becoming exhausted again, something he was hoping to avoid. That meant he had only one good option left "Flail" Magikarp did as it was told, leaping out the water and hitting Goldeen with its surprisingly powerful attack.

"Goldeen"

The horned Pokémon was helpless as it flew through the air before landing on the ground. Repeatedly it cried its name as it attempted to get back to the water but it was hopeless, Goldeen wouldn't make it back to the water and without getting back to the water Goldeen would be unable to keep fighting. "Goldeen return" Misty yelled glaring at Ash as she did so before holding the ball close to her "You did great, you can rest now"

"You too Magikarp" Ash said returning the Pokémon whispering some praise to it before going for the next Pokémon in his team "I choose you Clefairy"

"Misty calls Starmie" Misty countered not surprising Ash in the least since she had already told him that she would be using Starmie.

A chorus of 'cute' could be heard from the side-lines when Ash's Clefairy started happily bouncing up and down.

"Clefairy use Metronome" Ash commanded hoping something good would be used. The pink Pokémon started wiggling its figure's back and forth preparing the attack.

"Use rapid spin to knock it into the water!" Starmie did as it was told spinning so fast it looked like it had dozens of spikes coming out of it. Just when it was about to connect Clefairy's fingers began glowing a bright red and…it disappeared.

Starmie was able to regain control simply landing in the water before coming to a stop, but still no one could see Clefairy. "Clefairy…Clefairy" Ash called but nothing happened.

"If your Pokémon has ran away then that means it is no longer battling and you lose" Misty shouted still seeming angry despite her winning, she didn't want to beat Ash based on a technicality like this!

"Clefairy please come back" Ash yelled, although he wasn't sure why Clefairy had disappeared! He was starting to get really worried since he couldn't find Clefairy no matter where he looked.

"Clefairy", Ash looked around frantically for the source of the voice but couldn't see it.

"Like, what's going on? Is Clefairy invisible or something" Violet asked looking around in circles too.

"I don't know" Daisy said also spinning in circles as if that would find the small cute Pokémon. She looked like a dog chasing its tail as she continued to spin around pointlessly.

Finally Ash realised he wasn't going to find Clefairy but then an idea came to him "Clefairy use sing!" Ash smirked, this battle was over. Starmie would fall asleep and there was nothing Misty could do about it!

He remembered seeing this move used in a contest on TV a few years ago. The trainer had been a musician himself and seemed obsessed with the move using it in almost every round as a finisher. This was why Ash was so happy when he found out Clefairy could do it, he was even happier because the co-ordinator that had used it had been praised for its calming effect on the audience.

Misty really needed to calm down after all.

It was also perfect because with Clefairy hidden it meant it would be impossible to counter.

"Clef-fair-rye, Clefairy" Ash felt like he had forgotten something. As the voice continued and Misty's Starmie fell asleep he realised what he had forgot. Sing would affect everyone present, not just Starmie! He vaguely remembered that the co-ordinator had said training to use a targeted sing was a hard thing, he felt kind of stupid for forgetting that.

As he lied down closing his eyes he vaguely heard Misty calling him an idiot as well as a sleepy declaration of his victory by Daisy.

He was able to fall asleep happy with this knowledge.

A/N

Can anyone guess what happened to Clefairy? Review with your thoughts

Please review with your thoughts on the chapter or the story in general!


	7. The path to the League

A/N

I think the easiest way to show what happened is to write a small passage from Clefairy's point of view then go back to the main story. Don't worry this won't be a regular occurrence, it will only happen in special cases (I think).

**Clefairy's point of view (Meaning that Pokémon speech is translated)**

I watched as the starfish Pokémon charged at me rapidly but I wasn't scared. I knew that metronome would save me…right? Well actually I had no idea what it would do, that's how it works, but I was still pretty confident that something would happen.

I was so happy when the attack finally started, a feeling which continued when Starmie disappeared from my sight. However I soon realised that my attack hadn't gotten Starmie to go away like I thought. I could see Starmie and Starmie was exactly where it had been before.

It made Starmie giant.

I heard my master calling out to me, but couldn't respond. As I looked around I realised Starmie wasn't giant, no instead I was tiny. A splash of water hid me further and I lightly jumped into the water to hide behind the platform.

I could go for a sneak attack!

"Clefairy please come back" or not since apparently my trainer was too worried. It was actually sweet that he seemed so panicked by my disappearing, endearing that he cared. Finally I cracked and called back.

"Master I'm here" my being so small made it impossible to see me, since I was also hiding it was made even harder. If I just kept swimming silently I would be able to remain hidden.

"Clefairy's use sing" I didn't need to be told twice, I love to sing!

If only I knew any songs.

I tried to think of something but there was nothing so instead I decided to just say my name in a sweet voice hopping that would work. "Clefairy, Clefairy, and Clefairy" it seemed to as I noticed everyone falling over going to sleep.

Shortly after the blond girl-Daisy was it?-declared me the winner so I floated over to Ash knowing he would give me a hardy congratulations.

He did not.

The uncaring boy had fallen asleep, I couldn't believe it. I walked-bounced-right up to him and double slapped him but he slept through it. "Unbelievable and I sang so well for you!" this reminded me of the effect my singing always had on others.

"Heh, guess I forgot" I smiled sheepishly lying down on my masters face-it was surprisingly comfortable-and fell asleep as well, I didn't realise that I was steadily returning back to my original size.

**Back to normal point of view**

Ash was enjoying his nap, he was warm-especially his face for some strange reason-dry and unusually comfortable. But like everything else Ash enjoyed Misty had to ruin it. "Ash, Ash wake up" she spoke in a surprisingly gentle voice, but Ash was still sleepy.

Maybe if Ash ignored her she would go away. Misty knew what he was doing and was annoyed, but then she thought of a plan. An evil grin spread across her face. She lifted him up and rolled him on his side. Then she gently pushed his causing him to topple into the water.

Ash was instantly snapped out of his dreamy daze as soon as the water made contact with his face. It was like some amazing instinct took over, some amazing instinct to panic, made worse when he opened his eyes to see total darkness.

He tried to scream but something soft fell in his mouth stopping him. Thankfully he managed to recover quickly though turning splashing towards the platform he had been on minutes before. "Where, what who happened?"

"We were having a Pokémon battle" the red-head pointed out sounding downcast.

"Oh, I was having a Pokémon battle in my sleep. How'd I do?" This was strange, but Ash tried to push past it.

"You beat her" Lily cheered happily, apparently she was pleased that her sister had been defeated. Seemed a little odd but Ash was still barley awake so wasn't able to process it fully.

"I beat Misty in my sleep huh" Ash turned to grin at her, instantly regretting it when he got a glare that made him shiver in response.

"You didn't beat me in your sleep, you beat me then fell asleep" Misty huffed turning around "It wasn't even a fair win anyway, your Pokémon disappearing like that was pure luck, I bet you don't even know what happened to it"

"Taking advantage of good luck is a skill in itself" Daisy said surprising Ash with her wisdom, it wasn't that it was super wise or anything it was just that Daisy was…not super wise was the nicest way Ash could put it.

"Clefairy" his wet pink Pokémon sang as it jumped up into his lap.

"Hey buddy, your did great" Ash hugged his cute Pokémon making all except Misty go 'Awww' as she was too busy rolling her eyes at her sisters to find it cute. "So I guess this means I get the badge then"

"Yeah you can" Misty muttered lightly throwing the badge at the wet boy.

Ash nearly dropped the badge-he never could catch small things, or big things-but Clefairy caught it and gave it to him. "Ok, now go get changed" Daisy said pushing him towards the door ignoring his protests completely. He turned to try to say something only to find the door firmly closed.

He decided to just go get changed like they said, looking around until he found the bathroom and getting changed in there since he couldn't find anywhere better.

Ash didn't hear what was said since he was getting changed out of his wet cloths when they spoke, but what he did know was that when he came back Misty briefly hugged Daisy before leaving with him to go find Brock.

Pokémon-Pokémon-Pokémon

A few days later Ash and his friends were once again travelling along on his journey. They battle a few trainers and Ash actually got to a winning streak of twelve including his win against Misty. He had been the most surprised out of everyone that he was consistently not losing.

It was during one of these battles that Ash heard about a kid names A.J with 'savage Pokémon' who had built his own gym. It was on their way so they decided to visit it. When they arrived they saw a giant score board acting as its sign with the words 'A.J's gym undefeated' next to it.

The score board showed that this gym had one ninety-nine battles and lost zero, although it was not approved by the Pokémon league that was still impressive enough on its own to merit Ash's interest.

"Are you my next victim?" a strangely accented voice said as a boy with grass green hair walked up to them, a red bag was slung over his shoulder and he wore an orange and black shirt with shorts.

"You must be the gym leader, I'm Ash nice to meet you" Ash said walking forward and extending a hand.

"That's my job but beating chumps like you is my hobby" the boy explained ignoring the outstretched limb completely. He then moved slightly walking past Ash to further disrespect the boy as he made his way into the gym. An awkward moment later they started following the rude boy.

They entered through the gates to find a simple arena, the right shape and markings made on the elevated red dirt. Step led up to it allowing Ash and his opponent to go to their respective sides.

Ash noticed that as soon as he put his bag down a Butterfree appeared and carried it off. He didn't even acknowledge it though. "What's in the backpack?"

"The wild Pokémon I just caught, there a whole bunch more back in the tent. And then some" Ash nodded "So which Pokémon you goanna chose for my hundredth win?" he pulled a whip out cracking it in Ash's direction scaring him and making him 'dodge' out the way and in doing so he fell on his ass. "After this I'm goanna start going for badges"

"You've won a hundred battles and don't have a badge, I've only won like twelve and I've got two" Ash thought aloud subconsciously scratching the place where they lay on his chest.

"Did you win those badges or steal them? Either that or you competed in some loser gyms, where were they? Failure city or Wimpsvill" he questions still holding his whip in a threatening gesture.

Behind him a furious Misty and Brock began yelling "What do you mean loser gyms?" Misty was angry a lot so Ash didn't think much of it.

"Hey Ash, pulverise this guy" Brock was never angry; it was actually kind of scary.

"Let's get started then, Sandshrew go!" he threw the ball unnecessarily hard releasing the small mouse Pokémon.

"Now Ash remember, Sandshrew may be a ground type but that doesn't mean you should use Magikarp" Ash blushed looking down knowing exactly what Misty was talking about, it figures she would bring it up now to make him look like as big an idiot as possible.

"Paras I chose you" Ash called throwing out his grass type Pokémon.

"That's not a bad idea Ash, grass types should have the advantage" Ash smiled at Misty actually complimenting him, he wasn't sure but he thought it was the first time ever.

A.J cracked his whip "Sandshrew go" not much of a command but the small Pokémon began charging forward anyway.

"Paras stun spore" Ash commanded the small bug type, Paras was eager to please due to being trained a lot and having won most its battles already, this was another chance to prove itself! With that thought it shook its back unleashing a large amount of orange powder right at the small mouse.

"Dig" A.J. then cracked his whip making Sandshrew listen as he crawled underground.

"Paras stop using stun spore; instead try to figure out when Sandshrew's going to come up then use scratch" Paras did as it was commanded and waited patiently for the mouse Pokémon to come out the ground.

A rock shook beneath Paras indicating where the opponents Pokémon would come up, he tried to prepare to attack. Unfortunately when it came out it came out hard and fast, knocking Paras onto his back before he could use scratch. "Now finish it" there was no room for mercy in this trainers battling style.

"Paras return" Ash called not wanting it to get hurt further and knowing that it was already quiet severely injured. "Don't feel bad, you did great!" he consoled as he replaced the poke ball on his belt.

"And that makes victory number one-hundred" he cheered throwing his arm up in the air.

Ash had to admit, A.J was impressive, and his Sandshrew was really strong. As he watched the duo walk into the tent he could practically feel the pride radiating off of them. Clearly this was a big moment, winning a hundred battles in a row was certainly impressive he could tell that A.J would be extremely proud of his ground type.

"YOU CALL THAT LAST MATCH A FIGHT" an angry voice screamed from inside the tent shocking Ash. "It's time for some serious training" the word serious was emphasised by the crack of a whip.

The trio outside exchanged glances before following the boy into the tent to see what his training was like.

Ash watched the training for mere minutes before he got the idea behind it. It was brutal, and focused almost entirely on pushing Sandshrew. "Guys, don't your think we should do something?" Ash asked looking to Misty and Brock for advice.

Brock nodded looking at the Pokémon with serious eyes "Yeah, I'm going to find out what type of food he uses, these Pokémon are all really healthy" Brock said before walking off to go talk to the trainer.

Ash just stood with his mouth agape, it was shocking that Brock could be so indifferent when Pokémon were being treated like this. Then Misty spoke up "Really Ash this isn't so bad, he's tough but it's not like he's abusing them or anything"

Ash frowned, if this wasn't abuse then what was! He had to talk to A.J about this.

He approached the boy, noticing that he was once again yelling at his Pokémon "So A.J… maybe you're a little too…aggressive in your treatment of your Pokémon" Ash used the word 'aggressive' since saying 'evil' would have made it less likely that the 'aggressive' boy would listen.

"Listen here you" the boy stepped towards Ash poking him in the chest "How I raise my Pokémon is none of your business, I've won one-hundred times proving that my methods work, and we're about to go on our journey so we need to train hard if we're going to make it"

A bell rang and instantly he turned "Alright breaks for five minutes " they all collapsed in agony, barley able to keep moving, and then he would make them start training as soon as they had barley recovering. "Hey…Sandshrew where are you?" the boy questioned looking around angrily.

They all looked, although Ash wasn't trying very hard thinking that Sandshrew simply left because of its harsh treatment, but they found nothing. It was like he just disappeared. Kind of like what Clefairy had done at Cerulean gym, Ash still couldn't understand how that happened! Clefairy would try to explain by scrunching up into a ball, what did that mean?

"Now that we have one-hundred victories' we were going to start getting gym badges, we need to find him so we can begin" then as if summoned by A.J's request, Sandshrew appeared out of the ground landing in the arms of its trainer.

But what was weirder was the Meowth that was attached to it. Which hit Ash in the face; Ash was beginning to understand what people meant when they said being away from home could be painful. It was really painful!

"A.J and all his Pokémon sure are happy that Sandshrew is back" Misty observed smiling softly watching as they all huddled together around the returned friend. Ash was slightly surprised by how happy they seemed, even A.J who had been so indifferent up till now was fawning over the returned Pokémon as it nuzzled lovingly into his chest.

"I think I understand now…" Ash drifted off for a second thinking of how to phrase it "Even though he's tough A.J cares deeply for his Pokémon, because of this even though he's so excessively evil they still care for him back"

Brock sighed gently thinking about what Ash had just said and more importantly how Ash had said it "Close enough" Brock said knowing that Ash having understood the general lesson was amazing in itself. Expecting him to be able to talk about it rationally was ridiculous!

"Meowth" a strange voice screamed Ash instinctively turned to it only to have his face clawed at. "Ha-ha first blood, you might as well surrender n-" he stopped when he saw a very angry Sandshrew as well as several other Pokémon with their trainer glaring at him. "How am I goanna get out of this mess?" he thought aloud a contemplative look on his features.

"Prepare for trouble" Ash groaned in general annoyance.

"And make that double" Ash reached down looking for the right poke ball; he really didn't want to go through all of this again.

"Use the old motto" this surprised the group, they hadn't been aware there was a new one.

The rest of the motto was the same as usual, unfortunately. After this they cried since it 'felt great', Ash really hated that they followed him around. Misty following him around wasn't so bad since she was useful but all these idiots did was attack him every now and again. "So these are the creeps who stole my Sandshrew"

"That was an unfortunate mistake; we couldn't want such a second rate Pokémon" Jessie explained dismissively making the trainers face contort in anger.

"You can keep your wimps, we only want the strongest Pokémon" James explained pointing his rose at the boy with a smug grin.

"I was planning on leaving after one-hundred wins, but for you clowns I'll make an exception follow me to the battlefield and we'll begin. I'll show you the true power of 'savage Pokémon'" he cheered turning and walking to the battlefield everyone following him.

Ash decided to stay and watch the battle to see what it was like and to ensure that he didn't end up losing somehow. It was incredibly unlikely but if he didn't lose he would have his Pokémon taken away anything –even A.J- would be better than being a Team Rocket Pokémon.

As he watched Ash noticed something.

To stop Ekans's bind Sandshrew went into a ball, making it slip and get tied into a knot. To stop Koffing's sludge attack it went into a ball and spun making it bounce off. To stop Meowth in went into a ball causing its teeth to break when it tried to take a bite.

The only time it wasn't in a ball was when it used fissure strike, and even then it spun.

So as soon as Team Rocket had run away. "A.J I would like another battle"

"I already beat you, no need to do it again" he waved dismissively still feeling smug after his most recent easy victory.

"Trust me, this time will be different" A.J looked like he was going to dismiss Ash, but then he saw the determination burning in the young trainers eyes changing his mind. "Ok, one more battle"

They had this battle in a field-A.J had demolished his arena fighting Team Rocket-but Ash didn't mind. "Sandshrew lets make this quick I want to get going soon"

"Sorry but this will be anything but quick" Ash said reaching down and taking his desired poke ball of his belt. "Kakuna I choose you" the small Pokémon appeared, Ash's opponent quirked a brow but decided not to comment, not yet anyway.

"What's Ash doing? Fighting with Kakuna is insane!" Misty said actually feeling sorry for the Pokémon even though it was a bug.

"I don't know, but I do know that Ash wouldn't try to use it unless he had reason to believe it could win" Brock said although he too couldn't figure out the plan here.

"Alright battle begin" A.J yelled Sandshrew standing ready for battle as expected when A.J cracked his whip Sandshrew leaped into the air spinning in a ball. "Perfect, Kakuna use string shot quick" Ash commanded his cocoon Pokémon.

It complied shooting a thick white line at Sandshrew that soon surrounded it. "Break free Sandshrew" the Pokémon fought against it but before it could fell to the ground awkwardly having been unable to get free of its ball.

"More string shot" Ash now saw a flaw in his plan; he had trapped Sandshrew, which was great, but now what? He was beginning to realise that he needs to think things the whole way though, this way just like back at Cerulean, and Pewter gyms.

As the string shot continued to be fired relentlessly it soon had Sandshrew completely trapped so it was unable to do anything but struggle in the ball. Ash heard A.J shout more abuse-although he was sure A.J saw it as support-at his Sandshrew but it didn't help.

The string shot was thick and hard to break, and it was only made harder by the balled up position. "Sandshrew you better break free right now!" A.J screamed loudly and to Ash's absolute chagrin the ball started glowing.

"Sandshrew is evolving" Brock called from the side-lines. Ash watched as the ball broke due to sharp spikes breaking though it all over the place. The growing body of Sandshrew soon having destroyed all but a few stray wisps, then in a burst of power it dispelled all that was left and jumped backwards towards its trainer.

"Sandshrew, you did it. You really evolved" A.J cried hugging his spiky friend-Ash could see he was carful when doing so-and smiling brightly. "Now let's finish this"

"No that's all right" Ash's attempt to stop him was futile as the large Pokémon charged forward stabbing Kakuna dead-centre.

"Kakuna no" Ash couldn't believe this, to do so much damage in a Pokémon battle. The cocoon fell backwards uselessly and for a second Ash thought that it might be severely injured. That is until.

"Beedrill "

The call wasn't strong. Ash would have thought he was hearing things if it wasn't for the large bee Pokémon then crawling out his former shell. "Kakuna evolved into Beedrill" Broke said watching as the large Pokémon crawled out its formed body that fell back empty.

"Beedrill"

The Pokémon continued to cry its own name as it hovered. "Beedrill use Focus energy" Ash said having checked his Pokédex to learn what moves Beedrill could use after getting Kakuna. A light blue glow surrounded the Pokémon as it tensed before fading. "Now use fury attack"

Beedrill launched itself forward lashing out with its large stingers to attack Sandslash but all its attacks were effortlessly dodged. "Sandslash dig" the Pokémon complied disappearing underground in an instant.

"Beedrill fly high" Ash knew he didn't have much time but when Beedrill got so high in the air things look promising. Sandslash shot from the ground like a bullet, a bullet aimed at Ash's Beedrill. "Twin Needle" Beedrill thrust its hand-stingers forwards.

"Sandslash dodge it now" Sandslash tried but it didn't have as good control in mid-air. It dodged the first strike but the second hit, smashing into its chest hard and throwing it to the ground. Its crash kicked up dirt and dust blocking the result from view completely.

"Do you think he won?" Misty asked looking to the senior gym leader for guidance.

"That was good hit, and the fall would have done some damage" Misty seemed disheartened by his lack of enthusiasm "But that Sandslash is well trained, even before it was evolved it would still be a threat. I don't think Ash will be getting off so easily"

When the dust began to clear Brock's prediction was shown to be correct, as a silhouette of Sandslash was clearly visible. "Now Sandslash, finish it off with a slash attack" the Pokémon complied jumping once again so as to reach Beedrill's level ready with strike.

"Dodge it Beedrill" but he didn't have to as just before the attack was supposed to connect Sandslash let out a pained cry falling once again. "…Huh"

"Sandslash was poisoned by twin needle" Brock cheered throwing his arm up into the air.

"Sandslash you get up right now and finish the battle!" A.J yelled spit forming around his mouth as he lost control of his temper due to the possibility of losing a battle.

"Does this mean Ash could win?" Ash had actually been wondering the same thing.

"…Maybe" Sandslash forced itself to stand although clearly in worse condition that Ash's Beedrill.

"Sandslash finish this now!" the poor Pokémon tried to jump only to once again feel the effects of its poisoning. It fell to one knee panting.

"This match is over" Ash's voice was strong and surprising authorities, even he didn't know he could sound like this! "Your Sandslash is too weak to continue, you've lost"

"No way, we've never lost before and we're not going to start by losing to a weakling like you. We made a vow" Ash ignored him returning his own tired but still able to fight Pokémon.

"I don't know a lot about Pokémon"

"We've noticed" Misty shouted from the side-lines.

"BUT" he turned to glare at the girl "I do know when I've been beat. You never losing may have prepared you to win, but it means you've never had to face the fact that sometimes you lose"

The slightly older boy stared at Ash in shock. "Your…" he paused like the words leaving his mouth were poison "Right"

"If you'd like I could give you something to treat Sandslash's poison" A.J raised a hand shaking his head sadly.

"No, I've got the stuff I need back in the tent. Goodbye" and with that he returned the Pokémon running into his tent once again ignoring the trio.

"You know Ash what you did back there was pretty impressive" Misty commented offering a small smile.

Ash turned and smiled at Misty who wasn't looking at him "Thanks, that's really nice of you to say Misty"

"Don't get used to it" she said giving him a mock glare. Ash just chuckled as they began to leave; Misty was still Misty after all.

A/N

Blue Ferret was the one to guess correctly, Clefairy used minimise. His reward is I posted this today by working hard-I know it's not a very good reward but I can't do very much.

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank all my favourites and reviewer's and followers, I have been responding to most using PM's but I also wanted to give a group thank you for your support as well.

Also a lot of people have A.J be easily defeated to show the power of the trainer or viewed as pure evil, I decided to instead have him be a alright trainer with Ash disagreeing with the methods but still respecting him and with Ash winning only after losing due to his slightly repetitive battling style letting Ash win to show Ash is getting smarter.

Ash will get smarter; I want to build up to it though. In lots of stories he starts off as a genius and that bothers me. In others he improves too fast-seriously in one he went from a scrawny idiot to being described as a muscular genius in one chapter/the time taken to get though Viridian forest-so he will be developing at a slow but generally steady pace. It always bothered me that in canon Gary Oak got the most character development by far going from a know it all brat to an awesome genius when Ash went from a dumbass to a dumbass who ages backwards.

Please review favourite and follow, especially review!


	8. The School of Hard Knocks

Ash was out getting fire wood when he saw something weird. A bunch of kids in matching uniforms were around a treadmill with one boy running on it answering questions, when he tried to stop them they acted like he didn't exist.

Afterwards when he re-joined his group Brock and Misty explained everything to him. They were from somewhere called 'Pokémon tech' a school for trainers. It was a facility for 'exceptional students' who want to become trainers.

The bit that really annoyed Ash was that, upon graduation they were able to enter the Pokémon league, no badges or anything. It was a very expensive school, Misty said 'millionaires only' and it made it so that you could get into the Pokémon league without badges just because you were rich.

Ash's patience finally ran out when an announcement could be heard "Todays special class fog battle techniques has ended, tomorrow lesson will be snow competition secrets" and as this was said the fog disappeared completely.

"Oh well, I guess tomorrow they'll make me into a snow man again" Ash was shocked by this, it actually sounded kind of fun but it was still mean!

"Do they treat you like that all the time?" it seriously seemed unnecessary.

"My friends are just trying to help me" Ash couldn't believe he described them as his friends.

"With friends like those who needs enemies"

It turned out that this was actually useful since he knew loads of stuff about Pidgey and its evolved forms. The reason they did it was so that his parents working hard to send him there would be worthwhile. Then he showed them an adult sitting under a tree with a book.

"He's an upperclassman, but the classes are so hard that some students are held back for years. Everybody's to ashamed to go home without a diploma that guys in the beginners class with me but the students don't help him like they help me" he explained looking at the sad older student.

"He's in the beginners' class with me, that worth the equivalent to two badges, intermediate four, advanced six and graduating is the same as eight badges letting them go to the Pokémon league without travelling at all"

"And the teachers are ok with this?" Misty asked before Ash could.

"I don't think they know, or at least they act like they don't"

"This is wrong and I'm going to stop it, who's the student running this anyway" Joe reached into a pocket producing a picture of the girl.

Ash and Brock's faces went red, the girl was beautiful! "It's a girl" Misty didn't seem to notice the important fact that the girl was beautiful but Brock decided against commenting.

"She can violate my rights any day" Brock said instead showing how much he cared about what was going on.

"Hey if she's making your life so miserable how come your carrying her picture around" the boy turned to Misty not embarrassed in the least.

"I hate the way she treats us, but I like the way she looks" he looked at the floor embarrassed as Misty rolled her eyes. Ash and Brock were still looking at the photo dreamy eyed.

"While you to slobber all over her I'm going to get to the bottom of this and end this system!" they didn't react still blushing and looking at the picture. Misty turned stomping off loudly but they still barley paid attention to her leaving.

To distract Misty from her anger Joe decided to give the group a tour of the school, this bored Ash massively. The school had some cool equipment but he didn't see a single battle the whole time! Finally they got to the simulation room.

"Giselle's usually practices here alone" Ash nodded looking around hopping to challenge her. Joe noticed this and just sighed "She's not here, but even she was it wouldn't make a difference. Here it's your skill battling that counts, even if you beat her it wouldn't make a difference"

"I'm fine with that, I've already got two badges so I'll battle her" Ash bragged feeling them under his jacket.

"You just don't understand. Giselle is the top beginner here, that's better than three badges. I'm at the bottom but I'm still better than someone with two badges" Joe bragged irritating Ash, they were doing his a favour and he talks down to them.

Misty was even more irritated though "Hold on" she shoved Ash out the way roughly but he regained his footing "I'm the Cerulean city gym leader, are you really saying you're more powerful than me"

The boy stared at her indifferently for a second before turning to big computer and beginning to program it. "Cerulean city, water Pokémon yeah here they are. I beat them all the time" he said a Weepinbell on the screen hitting the Starmie and instantly defeating it.

"That's just a simulation, this is real life. Let's battle!" Joe turned smiling smugly.

"You'll be sorry" his voice was high pitch with smug as he turned and walked towards the battling area.

Once they arrived they quickly made their way to their respective sides of the field Ash approached Misty slowly "But out Ash, I'm defending the Cerulean City gyms reputation and you can't stop me"

"I know" she looked at him sceptically "I'm agreeing with you, I just wanted to asked that you don't beat him up to bad" Misty smirked back before turning and releasing her Pokémon.

"Misty calls Starmie" it stood proud-something only Misty could tell-staring down its opponent.

"Hah, water Pokémon, then I'll use Weepinbell" the small bulb Pokémon appeared looking unprepared for battle.

"Starmie water gun" Joe smirked, he knew that water attacks would have little effect so this would be easy. Starmie jumped and before Joe could even try to order its top spike had turned forward unleashing spray of water that knocked his poor Pokémon out.

"I don't understand, Weepinbell is supposed to be strong against water types"

"Yes but your forgetting that your opponent is a cerulean city gym leader, meaning her Pokémon are much more well trainer and will have a easy time defeating you because of it" a smug feminine voice said bringing everyone's attention to the brown haired beauty in the door way.

"I'm the top student in the beginning class of the most exclusive prep school in the world" she said as an introduction. "It's sad really that others aren't blessed with my beauty talent and humble attitude" the amassed student behind her nodded "People call me a star but I'm just Giselle"

"I want to continue to ensure that the Pokémon of tomorrow are as well cared for as possible. But you're a weakling, you better get stronger fast of before you know it your fellow student will turn their backs on you" she berated Joe just standing looking helpless.

"Hold it right there!" Misty stormed forward furious with this girls attitude "A true friend wouldn't walk away from someone who needs help. You may look beautiful but on the inside you plane ugly" Ash nodded since he couldn't help but agree, he had been around this girl for less than a minute and was already pissed off with her.

"Jealously isn't pretty either" she said completely missing the point. "For your water Pokémon I think I'll use… Graveler go" she threw the Pokémon unleashing the ground and rock type.

"She does realise she's at a double disadvantage right" Ash said looking at Brock but Gisele responded instead.

"My Pokémon are at such an advanced level they can beat water Pokémon, Graveler here was my first Pokémon and so is my strongest" she smirked at her opponent proudly. The Graveler jumped into the air without a command aiming straight at Starmie.

Starmie flew high avoiding it but was soon follow by another jump with Graveler going into a protective spinning ball. Misty knew this technique all too well, and knew how to couldn't it thanks to Ash. "Starmie dodge, then use water pulse" the starfish Pokémon did as it was commanded effortlessly avoiding the attack then landed with a large blue sphere already formed above its top fin.

It tossed the blue sphere at the ground creating a powerful wave hitting the landing Pokémon head on. It crashed into the wall behind it swirls forming in its eyes due to the direct hit. "I…lost" she picked up her poke ball returning her strongest Pokémon. "I don't understand, the textbooks said that was the perfect counter for water type attacks"

Misty smirked down at her "Well I actually learnt that one from him" she pointed to where Ash was smiling sheepishly "We saw another trainer use the same technique and with Brocks learned a few different ways to counter it though trainer and battles against other trainers"

A little later Joe approached Giselle from where she was sitting on the edge the pool. "I'm going back home to train some more, Misty learned so much because she travelled and that's what I need to do"

"Yeah I've thought about travelling to…" she drifted off looking at Joe expectantly. He just stared back confused.

Ash was sitting nearby-not eavesdropping- and heard everything, he was surprised by this but waited to see if Joe would notice. "Is it ok if I keep your picture" Ash face palmed, had he miss read the situation or he hadn't and Joe just ignored a major opportunity.

"You know you wouldn't need my picture if we travelled together for a while" Gisele said being a little more blatant making Ash sure he wasn't misreading.

"Yeah that would be great" the boy looked off at the sunset "I-is that something you would want to try?"

"Well it's always more fun being with people than being alone" she said a little too fast.

"Ok then" Ash could see that Joe was trying to hide a huge smile.

"Why can't you guys be like that?" Brock asked loving the lack of yelling from between the two.

"Huh" Misty went stiff as a plank for a second before regaining her composure "I'll tell you why, because he doesn't owe her a bike" she advanced towards a nervous Ash.

"Heh…heh yeah…" he turned and began walking away hoping to avoid a screaming match.

"DON'T IGNORE ME, HEY I'M TALKING HERE YOU KNOW!" she cried running slightly to catch up but Ash stayed quiet.

A/N

Please review

I had Misty win against Graveler-which was in my opinion her stronger Pokémon since Cubone lost when it was at a type advantage and I don't think Pikachu was significantly better than Starmie at that point-because I wanted her to be more than the person who's beat to show a character that Ash beats is strong. She is a strong trainer on her own and that will be shown from time to time.

Also she learnt the different way to beat balling up for defence training with Ash, more on that later I didn't want to show it since it would give away this chapters ending.

By the way I've added scenes for Ash's captures as well as a new Forrest Ash Gym battle at a readers request

Also I am planning to change the story name, this was never meant to be a long term name so I've decided to change it. Please PM or review or otherwise contact me with idea's you might have because I am not good at naming things so need lots of help. The summery will also be changing although just to update it. Since I am changing both I am going to announce the new story name when it is decided then change it in time for the next story with the summery changing at the same time. So please when I announce the new name remember it.

Please review with thoughts and opinions on this chapter and the general story so far, did you like Misty winning or would you have preferred Ash too, after all this time he did literally nothing.


	9. Here comes the Squirtle Squad

A/N

I've decided to change the order of the starter Pokémon's appearances, but don't worry they all will be making an appearance.

Ash and his friends marched proudly towards the town, finally they were returning to civilisation after being in that forest for so long. That joy couldn't last for very long though. Since as they were walking Ash's foot crashed through the ground.

"What the?" he pulled trying to dislodge it as his companions approached.

"Hey Ash, hurry UP!" Misty cried screaming as they all fell down into a deep pit; fortunately they landed on something soft. Or at least Misty did.

"Misty please get off me" Ash yelled trying to be heard despite his face being buried in the dirt. She quickly leapt up so that she was instead on the little piece of ground available.

"Now Ash can **you **get off **me**" Brock who had taken the brunt of the fall due to be the cushion of the person used as a cushion whined feeling bruises already forming as Ash too made his way off of him.

After a few minutes they were finally all standing, only problem is that even Brock was only half the size of the hole. "How do we get out?" Misty grabbed a chunk of wall only for it to break instantly.

"Hn, it's not going to be easy, maybe if we could get some rope to the top we could use that" Brock said putting his pack down and searching through it.

"Guys I think you forgetting something" Ash said holding up a poke ball "Fearow I chose you" the Pokémon emerged gently flapping its wings a short distance above them. "Can you get us out?"

"Row"it instantly began first grabbing Misty gently between its legs and helping her out, then returning and grabbing Ash before dropping him. "Fearow" the large bird than settled down as to take a nap.

"Nice work buddy" Ash said him and Misty petting there rescuer.

"Guys, I think you're forgetting someone" Brock cried from down the hole his voice sounding distorted.

"Oh…sorry, Fearow can you get Brock too?" the large bird ignored him continuing to sleep peacefully.

"Squirtle squirt"a group of annoyed voices called from all around. Ash turned to see he was surrounded by Squirtle. He got out his Pokédex to scan them.

"Squirtle. This Tiny Turtle Pokémon draws its long neck into its shell to launch incredible water attacks with amazing range and accuracy. The blasts can be quite powerful." The Pokédex said as it scanned the six for information.

"Squirtle sounds cool, I'm goanna catch one" Ash said excitedly hopping on the spot "Fearow go" the Pokémon sprang into action targeting the only Squirtle with pointed sunglasses with a peck attack. Unfortunately just before it would have connected another Squirtle pushed it out the way taking the attack instead.

It was knocked back and seemingly injured. "Squirtle"the leader looked at its downed friend before engaging in a conversation that Ash couldn't understand. At some point it spoke to Fearow, who just used leer attack in response, before finally they were interrupted by the sound of police sirens.

Ash was surprised when in response to this the Squirtle picked up there downed member and ran away. A motorcycle came to a screeching stop mere inches from the trio. "Are you guys alright?"

"Hi Officer Jenny" Ash said walking towards her.

"Huh, have we met before. You sure don't look familiar" she said looking at him searchingly.

"We met back in Viridian city" Ash explained making the woman's face light up with realisation.

"Oh, you must mean one of my cousins. We're all police officers, all look identical and all are called Jenny" after this she showed them a picture of a small army's worth of Jenny's all saluting and took them back to the station.

When they were at the station she explained everything to them. Apparently those Pokémon were a group called the Squirtle squad. They were all Squirtles that had been abandoned by their Pokémon trainers. Because of this they were angry with humans so ran about pranking everyone in the town.

It was because of this that Ash decided he was going to help them.

They had been abandoned by their trainers making them not like humans. Ash just knew that they weren't bad, they were just upset. If he just showed them how good humans were they could become good again.

Unfortunately they had no way of knowing where they were, so hoping they would get lucky they went to the side of a gentle river. Misty had explained that since they were water Pokémon, the Squirtle were most likely to appear by the river. Ash had believer her too, right up until she got out a fishing rod and started talking about a picnic that they were apparently having.

Ash didn't argue though instead just taking a nap whilst she fished and Brock prepared there food. Misty was happy about this as she continued to fish hoping to catch a new friend for her team. Finally something appeared. It was a blue ball by the looks of it. She assumed it was just someone's toy that fell in the river.

That is until it turned around.

When it turned around she saw the sunglasses, the sunglasses that could mean only one thing. It was part of the Squirtle squad. "Ash I found one of them" she turned shacking the boy away "See I told you they would appear"

Ash shot up straight away poke ball already in hand "Clefairy I want you to talk to Squirtle and get them to stop attacking the town, not fight him ok" Ash said to the small pink Pokémon as it appeared in a burst of light. "Clefairy" it responded nodding its head so that Ash would understand what it meant.

Clefairy bounced forward approaching the Pokémon. It said its name jumping up and down excitedly all the while. Ash knew he had chosen right, Clefairy was always happy so it was the perfect one to talk with the Squirtles.

It seemed to be going well. Until Squirtle hit Clefairy with water gun that is. Clefairy responded with a double slap but was then hit by another water gun from the side this time. "Hey leave Clefairy alone, we're not trying to fight" Ash moved forward only to feel a rob wrap around him.

It was another Squirtle.

He then watched as they ran around them binding him and his companions together leaving them completely helpless. "Clefairy run back to Officer Jenny" Ash commanded his Pokémon only to see it was already defeated.

"Hah-hah-hah you're not going to Squirtle out of this one" Meowth cried appearing from his hiding place behind a tree.

After that Clefairy was caged and the three humans were taken to a cave by the Squirtle who were led by Meowth. Ash was shocked to say the least. He had thought that they weren't really that bad, yet here they were working with Team Rocket.

What made it worse was the realisation that it was his thought they were captured, if he hadn't been so adamant to help the Squirtle squad they would be long gone,

"He-he-he I'm the Pokémon in charge here, just you wait soon my human pets get back" he said lightly prodding Ash with his tail.

"Squirtle don't believe him, those humans aren't his pets there Team Rocket" Ash said hoping for the Squirtle to understand. Fortunately the leader did seem to understand at least slightly. "They're tricking you into doing their work for them"

Unfortunately Meowth was not letting this go on much further "Quiet human" he leapt up delivering a powerful scratch attack to Ash's face. "Who you goanna believe, this human or a fellow Pokémon"

Brock ignored this as he looked at Clefairy. The small pink ball was in its cage breathing heavily and covered in bruises "Ash Clefairy's in bad shape, we've got to get a super potion fast. A shop in town sells it"

"We don't have any left" Ash cried now feeling truly helpless as Brock shook his head in resignation. "Squirtle squad please, you have to let me go get the medicine for Clefairy"

"Squirtle squirt Squirtle!"

They yelled looking at Meowth "They know you humans can't be trusted, as soon as your free you'll just run away"

"No I won't, you can keep me here for as long as you want as long as Clefairy gets the super potion I promise" Ash looked at them trying to see though the glasses to know if they felt any sympathy for him.

"Squirtle" the small blue Pokémon noticed the tears in Ash's eyes and turned to see that Clefairy still looked quiet injured. Finally he relented and freed Ash "Squirtle"

"They say that if you're not back by noon tomorrow the red head's getting her hair dyed purple" Misty's eyes went wide with panic.

"Don't worry I'll be back" Misty nodded but still looked worried.

Ash turned and ran as fast as he could, he had to be fast and get to town quickly. He was able to make it to town soon and was at the drug store when he ran into none other than Gary Oak.

"Hey Ash, what's a loser like you doing here?" Gary asked smiling smugly at the boy who was covered in dirt.

"I'm her for a super potion, I need it for one of my Pokémon" Ash said trying to get into the building but Gary still blocked his way.

"Hah, figures you'd have injured your Pokémon already" this made Ash frown but he ignored him, he didn't have time for this. "What happened anyway, you lose a battle against some weak newbie trainer?"

That was it, Ash was sick of this "Gary shut up, Clefairy's serious trouble if I don't hurry" at this Gary's usually smug face changed to the embodiment of seriousness.

"How bad is it?" he looked tense, clearly he didn't like the idea of an injured Pokémon any more than Ash.

"It's bad, that's why I need to get the super potion right now" Gary grabbed Ash and started pulling him.

"I already have a whole bunch, Clefairy at the Pokémon centre?" he didn't look back as he continued racing to his car Ash now actively running too.

"No, we were kidnapped by Team Rocket. They let me go but are in a cave" Gary didn't question it as he threw the boy into his car and commanded the driver to go full speed.

Finally they stopped at a small crack in a wall Ash and Gary looked at it confused. "What the hell is this? I told you to take us to the cave" Gary yelled at his driver but he remained completely calm.

"Sir, this a secret entrance I heard off. Taking this way in should allow you go get there much faster" Gary nodded turning and looking at the hole.

"Ash it's too small for me but you can go" he reached onto his belt looking for something "Oddish I chose you" the small Pokémon appeared looking ready for a battle "Nothing to fight today, I want you go through that cave with Ash and use flash so he can see"

The small Pokémon nodded running ahead with Ash struggling to keep too due to his larger size. As he continued though he soon became glad that Gary had the foresight to give him Oddish as he noticed the lack of light not coming from Oddish.

When he finally got out the other side he was horrified by what he saw. Everyone was gone. All that was left was an empty cage and some rope. "Clefairy" he cried fearing the worse, as he thought this an image of Misty falling down a bottomless pit crossed his mind "Misty"

He saw the Squirtle and Meowth standing outside and instinctively charged at them "Where are they? Where is Misty and Clefairy, I'm not late so you shouldn't have hurt them? Where are they?" Ash yelled getting a little hysterical.

"We're right here" Misty said looking mildly amused by his outburst. The Squirtle amassed around him laughing boisterously "Where the super potion for Clefairy" Ash quickly produced the bottle Gary had given him.

Brock then administered it carefully to Clefairy's wounds so as to ensure maximum effect. "So Misty your hair isn't purple" Ash said watching with rapt interest.

"Nope, they were bluffing. They play tricks but would never mess with a girls natural hair colour" Misty explained making Ash wonder exactly what their personal morals were. He had heard they destroyed food stands and stole from people, why draw the line at hair dye?

**Bang **a large bomb hit the mountain side with a Meowth shaped balloon above it.

"To protect the world from devastation"

"To unite all peoples within our nation"

"To denounce the evils of truth and love, to extend our reach to the stars above" they were speaking in unison now.

"Jessie"

"James"

"Squirtle squad it's payback time for insulting Team Rocket, Meowth get on" she yelled lowering a ladder for the small feline Pokémon to grab onto.

"And the rest of you are in for a real blast" James said looking pleased with himself as they began throwing bombs everywhere destroying cliffs.

"Go to the cave for cover" Brock yelled everyone but one doing as they were told. Ash and Misty noticed this as they saw the leader of the Squirtle wiggling on its back.

They didn't think about what they did next.

It was just instinct to charge out and dive for the Pokémon to try to protect it when the bombs fell. "Squire –Squirtle" the small Pokémon looked up at the two saviours shocked, had these two humans really just risked everything to save him?

"Two more bombs are coming" Brock yelled still hiding in the cave.

Misty stood up with no major injuries but Ash didn't follow "Save yourself guys" he muttered looking down at where a large rock lay on his ankle. Squirtle looked at him even more shocked, this couldn't be normal. He was too nice he risked himself for a Pokémon and now wanted to be left behind.

Squirtle wouldn't let that happen, and apparently Misty wouldn't either as they both sprang into action to remove the rock before picking the boy up and running for cover.

Team Rocket just laughed as they continued to float away "We got rid of the Squirtle squad, we're going to be heroes" they cheered only to stop when they saw who was at the top of the cliff.

"Squirtle use water gun" Misty ordered pointing towards the balloon. He complied without question shooting a powerful torrent of water at them popping the balloon.

"Looks like Team Rockets blasting off again" could be heard as they slowly disappeared in the sky.

"Yay, we won again" Ash said being held up by Brock due to his injured ankle.

"Yeah, but it isn't over yet. If that fire continues it take the whole town with it" Brock explained looking at the raging fire set of by Team Rockets bombs.

"No problem" Ash said turning to look at the Squirtle squad "If you guys work together with us we can use your water guns to put out the fire" Ash watched as they, along with some of Misty's water Pokémon put the entire fire out with ease.

After that they returned to the town and told them everything. Unsurprisingly Gary claimed a lot of credit and was celebrated as a hero, apparently some of his Pokémon put out the fire too, but Ash wasn't too surprised since Gary was always like that. The Squirtle squad were also given a certificate as well as the role of firefighters. Apparently they never had a real fire department before, hey had always relied on a joint one from the next town over which was slightly unsettling to hear.

And with that last little bit of news Ash and his friends departed happy with the knowledge that they had taught the Squirtle to trust humans again. "Hey Ash that Squirtle is following us" they turned to see it standing there smiling happily.

"Hey, would you like to come with us Squirtle?" Ash said looking back as the Squirtle removed its sunglasses revealing bright sparkling eyes. It then raced forwards straight into the awaiting arms of Ash. "Guess I got a new Pokémon" he said hugging it close.

Then Squirtle jumped out his arms and into Misty's "Squirtle squirt".

"Hey guys what's going on, I can't understand him?" Brock said confused by the behaviour in general.

"I think he says he wants to come with me" Misty reached for her belt got out a poke ball. Squirtle then jumped away and back to Ash.

"See he wants to come with me" Ash said getting his own poke ball out for the capture. Once again Squirtle jumped away.

"Huh, maybe he doesn't want to come with us after all" Brock thought but Squirtle dismissed it by shaking his head rapidly. "Then who do you want to go with?"

It reached a hand out to Misty with one holding Ash "Squirtle"

"Hey guys I think I understand it…" they looked at Ash expectantly "Its saying 'I want to go with Ash, sorry about holding this girls hand, that must be very misleading for you guys'" Misty face palmed.

"Actually I think he's saying he wants to go with both of you" Brock tried noticing how Squirtle nodded quickly response "See I'm right"

"He can't do that, Pokémon only have one trainer" Ash said looking at the small Pokémon who looked disappointed.

"Why?" both humans and Pokémon alike turned to look at Brock "You guys already share Pokémon anyway, so what difference does it make between this and that?" Ash and Misty looked at each other for a few seconds before nodding.

"But he goes in my Poke ball" Misty said refusing to put it away.

"Why yours!" Ash yelled seeing right though her ploy, she was trying to take Squirtle for herself.

This bickering went on for a while annoying Brock the whole time. What was wrong with these two that they always fight over everything?

A/N

So now Ash and Misty have a Pokémon that is owned by both of them. Do you think it's a good idea, I like it but that doesn't say much since it's my own idea?

I don't think anyone's done it before either, so it's either a good idea that no one else thought of or so stupid that I should see the reason not but cant.

Please review with your thoughts on this as well as the story in general.


	10. Saving Charmander

A/N Charizard is my favourite of all of Ash's Pokémon, by far the strongest and also disobedient for a while forcing him to become a better trainer. Unfortunately Ash being Ash he barely made any progress really.

Ash and his friends were making their way to Vermillion city, which was slowed down by them once again being lost. Ash had decided to look around, hoping to find a Pokémon he didn't already have.

But all he saw was Spearow.

It wasn't that he had anything against them, he would catch them normally, it's just that with Fearow it seemed like catching them was pointless. If he caught a weaker version of the same Pokémon he knew he would never have a good chance to use it.

"That's it; I can't take one more step! We've been looking for Vermilion city for days and haven't even gotten any closer" Misty whined as she collapsed on the ground from sheer exhaustion.

"Hey there's a bug on your" she jumped up landing on top of Ash who struggled to stay standing due to the surprising addition of her weight "Oh wait it's just a piece of grass" Brock said picking it up and laughing, his laughter only increased when Ash lost his footing resulting in the childish duo landing in a heap.

Misty stood up with a huff Ash following suit quickly. "Anyway according to the map, we should be near a Pokémon centre" Brock chipped in once again looking at the map.

"Great let's go then" Misty said already forgetting her earlier fatigue and charging in the direction of the centre.

Shortly after they began walking a storm began coming in. They ignored it at first simply putting on coat, but then a crack of thunder sounded making Misty let out a rare sound, a girly scream. "So um…guys if Ash's getting cold maybe we should set up camp for the night"

Brock looked at her then back at his map "I'm pretty sure we're near the Pokémon centre, less than a mile is my guess" she turned giving Brock a glare that made him recoil slightly.

"You've been saying that for how-Ow" she turned looking at the hard thing she just walked into. Ash also looked up and saw what it was that Misty walked into. It was a giant shadow, looking like a huge and menacing Pokémon with a dull flame at the top that seemed like eyes.

"I'm goanna catch it" Ash said preparing a poke ball and throwing it aiming for the fire. The ball bounced off followed by a crack of thunder and some lighting illuminating the area for a flash. This revealed to them all that what it really was a large rock with an orange lizard on top. "It's a Charmander"

"Yeah but it looks sick" it really did as it struggled to hide beneath a leaf for shelter curling into a small ball and shivering.

"It should have been captured" Ash said looking at the ball in his hand "That means it must have a trainer already, but why would he leave Charmander here all by himself?"

"I don't know but we can't leave him, if that flame on his tail goes out Charmander could be in real trouble" they all agreed quickly using Brocks coat to keep the water off of it as the charged in the direction of the Pokémon centre.

Fortunately they were actually quiet close as once they were over the hill they were able to see the centre at the bottom. This gave them new determination as Brock continued to use his body as a shield whilst running towards the Pokémon centre as fast as he could.

When they finally arrived at the Pokémon centre they were pleased to see that Nurse Joy was waiting at the desk. She jumped up immediately when she saw the Pokémon taking it from them and rushing through to the care rooms where she instantly began the various treatments for it.

Then all they could do was wait. It felt like they were in the waiting room for hours.

Brock in particular seemed anxious as he paced the floors muttering quietly. He continually said that Charmander would be happy and healthy again soon, clearly trying to convince himself more than anyone else. He seemed to feel bad, as if there was something he could have done to have helped Charmander sooner.

Ash tried to tell that there was nothing he could have done. That he did everything he could. But Brock didn't listen; he was too worried right now to think rationally.

Then Nurse Joy appeared in the doorway, her expression unreadable due to the mask over her face. She reached up slowly, carefully peeling it back. Brock looked like he was being tortured as he watched, waiting for some sign as to Charmander's condition.

Then finally they could see her smile.

That one simple gesture said it all; it made her next words almost redundant. "Charmander will be ok after a goods nights rest" they all let out a sign of relief when she said it though, that last little bit of confirmation that everything had gone well.

It was with this news that they were finally able to get to sleep. Ash fell asleep instantly, not use to being up so late. He wasn't sure but he suspected that they hadn't arrived until about nine then they were waiting for hours. He didn't bother checking the time since he found he really didn't care, and based on the gentle sounds of snoring neither did either of his companions.

The next morning Ash leaped out of bed. He was surprised to see that he was the last one up with Misty and Brock having left already. He walked out and found them enjoying a simple breakfast, Misty some cereal but there was other food stuffs on the table like eggs and a healthy supply of bacon and their Pokémon eating Brock's specially made Pokémon food out of their bowls. They seemed happy as the people and Pokémon alike chatted amicably about travel plans, this didn't interest Ash, he was sure the Pokémon would be talking about something more interesting whilst they ate but unfortunately he couldn't join in on that conversation.

He approached them yawning before taking his seat and moving some of the food towards himself. He was about to take his first bite of bacon when Nurse Joy burst into the room. "Charmander's gone missing"

Everybody in the room went tense at this, struggling with the idea of Charmander once again being in danger. Finally Brock spoke up "He must have gone to wait for his trainer"

Nurse Joy let out a sad sigh "Yeah that seems likely"

"Whys that a bad thing?" Ash asked once again trying to take a bite of his delicious bacon.

"I'm not sure, but I think I already know who Charmander's trainer is. He's a young boy named Damian, I see him around here a lot" Ash looked at her wondering why she didn't seem pleased with this information; they knew who to look for so they just had to find him and go. Seemed like great news to him.

"But from what I hear he won't be returning" they all turned their attention to her "Last time I saw him he said he was beginning his journey, that was about a week ago" she didn't have to say anything more for them to understand.

If he had left a week ago to start his journey with Charmander still sitting around on a rock all alone it could only mean one thing. He had abandoned Charmander. Ash looked to Brock for guidance but only got a depressed look in response. "Why would Charmander keep waiting after all this time?"

"He's probably still loyal to Damien, he might keep waiting for weeks before he finally gives up" Ash wasn't happy with this answer, he knew that Charmander couldn't afford to wait on that rock any longer. He wasn't sure how long he was there before but it had gotten him sick, and Ash refused to let Charmander be in danger again. He knew what he to do.

"We're going to see Charmander" they all nodded quickly forgetting there meal and rushing out the door to try and find Charmander again.

It wasn't hard to find him, he had returned to the rock that he was on before and looked the same as always. As they approached they noticed he looked sad, his tail flame was burning low once more despite Nurse Joy's healing him.

"Hey Charmander, how are you buddy?" Ash tried getting a weak 'char' in response; he petted the small Pokémon which responded by nuzzling into his hand happily. But Ash could tell he wasn't really happy. "We can't just leave him here"

Misty and Brock shifted awkwardly not knowing what to do themselves. Fortunately this didn't go on for long. "Charmander buddy" a dirt covered boy with blue hair jumped out of a bush hugging Charmander tightly whilst weeping.

"Um, who are you?" the boy continued to weep muttering about returning to see Charmander gone. "Are you Charmander's trainer?"

This time he did get a response as the boy looked up teary eyed and nodded. "We were separated, after we were attacked by Team Rocket" the trio gasped shocked by the news that Team Rocket was here as well.

"What happened?" Ash had already heard of Team Rocket, he knew they were bigger than the three idiots he had dealt with so many times already and was worried. If they had attacked Damien and Charmander once what was to stop them trying again.

"We were attacked, we had just started out journey and we were attacked" he turned to Charmander crying some more whilst hugging the Pokémon so tight it must have hurt a little. "I don't know why, they just said that they wanted Charmander"

"We tried to fight but they were to strong, in the end we were forced to separate. I told Charmander to wait here. That I would return" he cried some hugging the small Pokémon even tighter, Charmander let out a soothing 'char' trying to hug him back "But I was captured, they kept me at their base trying to get me to tell them where Charmander was and to give them my other Pokémon"

He paused for a long moment, looking down at Charmander and finally managing to stop crying "How did you escape?" Misty asked too concerned to wait for him to continue. Surprisingly this time he smiled.

"Well while I was in there I shared cell with a small little tadpole Pokémon, Poliwag" he lifted his hat revealing the happy Pokémon waving its tail from side to side "It was being dehydrated, so I had to use my water to keep it healthy" he explained as the small Pokémon continued to dance around happily, Brock looked at the tiny water type observing its behaviour and was pleased to see it appeared to be in great condition.

"Once he had gotten a little better, he did something weird. He just looked at the guard and then he let us out, we ran after that and got here" he paused turning and pointing to a small cave "When Charmander wasn't here I decided to camp in the cave to hide from the storm, I'm so glad nice people found him and took care of him" he launched himself at Ash and his friends weeping profusely and claiming that the trio were saints.

After that they went to the Pokémon centre where they told everything to an Officer Jenny and had Damien get washed up, he hadn't had a shower in almost a week and while no one wanted to say anything he was clearly in dire need of one. Poliwag decided to become Damien's Pokémon and it seemed like everything was perfect.

That was until Officer Jenny and the other police officers who went to investigate the Team Rocket base didn't return.

A/N

So Damien's personality got a complete change or if you read electric tales it's pretty similar instead. What happened to the police? Find out next time.

Title idea-thank you for the suggestion I appreciate it, small question is Ashton deliberately spelt like that. I didn't know Ash's name could be done like that if it is deliberate but it does sound good.

Guest-Yeah Squirtle is a Misty Pokémon in this, although since she shares with Ash he'll use it sometimes. When I had them share Pokémon I was hesitant since if they shared Pokémon like Ash constantly using Misty's Starmie that would seem like he was cheating sort of…this way that's avoided since Squirtle is his as well but Misty using it won't be her ignoring her own Pokémon in favour of Ash's either

I read over this chapter one more time than usual since it had been pointed out that my spelling and grammar isn't the best by a few people in PM's so I hope its better

Thank you for all the favourite, reviews and follows they are appreciated more that you might think

Please review


	11. Dr Vile

A/N

Ash has had dealings with Team Rocket in the form of Jessie and James off screen, it happens quiet often and they deal with it quiet easily so it is often skipped unless it actually has an interesting variation instead of their usual no plan attack.

Ash, Misty and Brock stood tense in the police station. They had been preparing to leave when the news of the police's fate reached them. It was a small station, being run by only a handful of officers over all. They had taken the news of Team Rockets arrival in their stride though.

All they said was 'Everything will be ok' but now, a whole day after when the officers had been expected to return things were looking bad. They had left as soon as they heard, they knew Team Rocket had a tendency to make quick get always so had been eager to get out as fast as possible.

But then, shortly after they called back to report that they had discovered Team Rockets base and were planning further investigation the line went dead. The remaining officers were clearly freaked by this.

Jenny was the chief in this station, and she had brought two more officers with her. All that was left was a rookie who barley had any Pokémon and while fully trained lacked experience beyond what they got in this small hamlet.

He did the only thing he could think of, try and call a bigger police station to request back up. But that didn't go well either. As soon as he tried he realised that the station had been disconnected from the rest of the world. The internet, phone lines and everything else they thought of trying were failing.

He knew this was Team Rocket. They weren't exactly being subtle about it. It was surprising, although they were only a small village it was off for Team Rocket to be so aggressive. Usually they were known for small hidden plans and fleeing as soon as they suspected the police was onto them.

Them being so bold was not a good sign.

Ash, Misty and Brock were still at the police station with Damien. The room was small with uncomfortable chairs and various police and crime related posters on the wall. There was no receptionist at the desk. The one remaining police officer currently too busy trying to re-establish communications.

Ash looked at the three other Pokémon trainers before him; they were all quiet and sullen refusing to look up. "So what do we do now?" he turned to Brock hoping that as a former gym leader he would know what to do. Gym leaders often were involved in assisting the police.

Unfortunately this didn't seem to be the case. "Ash this isn't good, I tried calling Forrest to get some more Pokémon transferred but I couldn't. I also couldn't contact the league" they all frowned at this Misty nodding showing that she had come across the same problem.

Ash said irritated by having sat around so long whilst Team Rocket was out there. "We know where the base is, so we could attack it ourselves"

"Don't be stupid, if they beat the police their clearly not push overs" Misty pointed out knowing that doing whatever Ash said was rarely a good idea.

"Misty we might have to" they all turned to Brock, who was rarely interested in violence beyond watching battle yet now seemed to think they should. "As a gym leader it's my duty to go into battle when the police can't handle it"

Misty frowned at him "Your right, as gym leaders we have to go"

"I'm going alone" Brock said quickly dismissing her.

"What? Why? I'm a gym leader too you know"

"Yes but your also just a kid, involving you in something like this is irresponsible" Brock said feeling like he needed to act like an adult since they weren't capable of it.

"It would be more irresponsible going by yourself, Onix is your strongest Pokémon and without him you wouldn't stand a chance" Ash chipped in unwilling to let his friend do something so stupid.

This went on for a while, Brock insisting he should go alone with Ash, Misty and Damien saying that as Pokémon trainers it was also their duty. Eventually Brock gave in, knowing that they were right. He hadn't done any serious training in months and only had two Pokémon with him. There was no way he could do this alone.

He still didn't like the idea of them going with him though, but he knew it was unavoidable. He now knew what they really needed was a plan. Something which they also had trouble with, they all knew they weren't powerful enough for a direct assault was out.

Damien suggested trying to find more people to help. But Brock said it wouldn't work, if they had found the police they would be on high alert. They were probably already trying to leave, if they were to wait until they could get some help it would be too late.

The best they could hope for was a gym leader anyway, and they already had two of those, although they were young leaders of low ranked gyms.

It was then that the police officer returned. "Ok guys, I think you should be on your way now" he said trying-and failing-to sound like he was in control.

They all turned and looked at him shocked by what he just said "We can't leave, the police are missing. We need to do something" Misty said glaring at the small timid man.

He still stood firm, becoming noticeably more confident than when he first entered "This is no matter for children. I hate to say this but you'll have to leave"

Brock stood up walking towards the much smaller man "We're also gym leaders; it's our duty to deal with this sort of thing"

The officer paused for a second, fiddling with the sleeve of his shirt. During this time Ash stared at him, looking at his strange attire. His shirt was too small, the body and sleeves being noticeably uncomfortable and the trousers stopped at his ankles.

His behaviour was just as strange, he seemed looking around a lot. As if he was trying to find something. It made sense sort of, after all they were looking for the other members of his squad, but the way he was behaving still seemed …off. Ash didn't know what but he definitely didn't like something about this man.

"I'm sorry, but this is official police business. If you don't leave I'll be forced to arrest you"

They looked at him shocked; it seemed like quiet an overreaction when they were offering help. Finally Brock spoke up again "As gym leader in cases like this, where the chief of police is absent, I have authority. You cannot make me leave, or arrest my assistants"

"That only applies if we are in the same town as your gym" the officer rattled off surprisingly quickly, as if he had memorised this fact.

Misty was done with this, they were trying to stop Team Rocket and this man was doing nothing but getting in the way. "Shut up! We're doing this so just accept it"

The man jumped, literally jumped about a foot back when he heard this. "I'm sorry, but with Officer Jenny gone I'M IN CHARGE and I'M saying that YOU leave" they all stared at him passively "In that case I have no choice but to force you" he reached behind his back producing a poke ball "Go Grimer" the small purple slime Pokémon appeared in a flash of light.

It smelt terrible "Oh my God! What kind of Pokémon is that" Ash said as he lifted his Pokémon to scan it.

"Grimer, a Sludge Pokémon. Born from sludge, these Pokémon specialize in sludge attacks." It rattled off the information its screen also displaying some other random information. Ash ignored most of it though instead focusing on its type. It was poison type, which meant that he wouldn't be able to have a type advantage.

"Now let's all calm down, I know your stressed and everything but this is no time to fight" Brock yelled moving between Grimer and Ash to stop the fight he knew would come, Ash was always too impulsive.

"SHUT UP! I'm sick of being told what to do by you, Jenny, the rest of the force I'm sick of it you hear me. Grimer, attack the gym leader now!" before anyone would react Grimer had moved onto Brock sucking him in and beginning to drown him in its disgusting purple body.

With a shout Ash, Misty and Damien all rushed forwards trying desperately to free the Pokémon breeder. Every time they tried though it failed, Grimer's body was liquid so every time they grabbed some it would just roll off and re-join the rest of it. "Fearow grab the officer" Ash yelled throwing the ball that released the proud bird.

It attacked quickly, grabbing the small man and lifting him into the air with ease. "Hey let me go" he tried to resist but Fearow just held him tighter hurting his arms.

Ash ran over and grabbed the ball from the man's belt "Grimer return" the Pokémon returned unable to dodge the beam of light headed for it. Ash rushed forward to check on the breeder "Are you ok"

Brock smiled weakly at him "Thanks Ash, it smelt really bad under that thing" his face was bright red, presumably from either his inability to breath or maybe from being crushed but was slowly getting back to normal.

"What the hell's wrong with you, why'd you attack us?" Misty yelled walking up to the hanging police officer.

He just looked at them, not saying a word before turning away. "You have to let me go. I'm a police officer" he sounded so smug that Ash wanted to punch him in the face.

"I think your lying, I think your part of Team Rocket" Damien said walking forward and looking at the man.

"WHAT?" Ash, Misty and Brock yelled all at once.

"Think about it guys, what other explanation is there for all of this?" he pointed to the man who was still held captive by Ash's strongest Pokémon "He also has a Grimer, just like most the other members at the base I was in" he said pointing to the ball.

"Still it could just be a coincidence…" Brock stood rubbing his chin with his finger a contemplative look on his face.

Ash also went silent for a second before "We could just ask him"

Misty responded instantly "That's stupid even for you, he will never tell us the truth"

Ash smirked at her "Your right Misty, it's not like we have a Pokémon that can hypnosis's him or anything…" Damien quickly caught on releasing his newly capture Poliwag.

"Use hypnosis so that he'll tell us everything" the Pokémon looked at the man a few 'polis' being spoke as his eyes turned into swirls eventually the man stopped resisting and went limp. "Is he hypnotised now?"

"Yes…" the Officers voice was dull and lifeless, as if he was simply going through the motions.

After this an intense interview began. The officer really was hypnotised, admitting to having joined Team Rocket believing he could use it to raise though the ranks and become more powerful. He also gave them some information on Team Rocket and there base.

But it wasn't good news.

They were already planning to move out, taking the police they had captured with them. Beyond that he knew little, just that they would be gone by the afternoon and that he shouldn't expect to see the rest of the force again.

Ash tried to find out what defences they would have, but he didn't know much in that regard. He also seemed pretty clueless as to what Pokémon they had. In fact they only thing he did know was that they would be going in large trucks to move most the equipment and would have to pass through town. They were expecting him to turn a blind eye, and also expecting him to get rid of anyone who wouldn't. Apparently that was what he was trying to do to them.

Unfortunately he really didn't know how to re-establish communication, all he knew is that they would re-activate once they were gone. So sadly it meant that they had no way of even dreaming of getting help in time.

After this they left, the hypnotised officer coming with them since he could be useful.

They were now waiting near the town edge. They knew that Team Rocket would be coming by soon. Apparently the truck would be big and in a convoy, at least ten rocket grunts plus their leader who they knew had a really strong Pokémon. Ash wondered what the Pokémon was but the police officer didn't know he didn't seem to know a lot actually.

They decided on a simple but hopefully effective plan.

They had set up a road block, the plan was to separate the trucks by letting them though one at a time. This way they would be vulnerable to attack.

Then they would jump in and free the officers. Admittedly it wasn't the best plan, but they didn't have a lot of time or resources so this was unfortunately the best they could do. Then they hid in the bushes lying in wait.

After a shockingly short wait they saw a truck, one which the hypnotised one nodded to as signal to show it was Team Rocket. They also had two more trucks behind the first one. All with 'warning contains live Pokémon' written on the side, they were very large making Brock wonder what type of Pokémon was inside them.

They saw the trucks come to a stop, before a man dressed in brown trousers, black shoes and shirt and a white over coat came out. He approached the officer with a scowl on his face. "What is the meaning of this Smith, I thought you knew how important this is" he spat as he walked towards the man.

Officer Smith looked at him with dull eyes "I'm sorry, there's a slight problem. I'm going to need to talk to you about something's" Misty face palmed; his voice had no emotion at all. It sounded completely face, they would see right through it.

They were slightly surprised that they couldn't hear any sounds from inside the truck, after all the police were meant to be in them but they didn't dwell on it since they weren't sure how much time they had and were pretty sure it was just the result of a gag or soundproofing.

Damien knew what he had to do, reaching for his belt and getting the desired ball. He remembered when he had been captured, forced to be jailed and had wanted nothing more than to have this Pokémon what him. After all, with this Pokémon escaping would have been easy, but unfortunately he hadn't.

"Abra go" the Pokémon appeared, fortunately not asleep-something that was quiet rare for Damien's Abra- and looking ready. "Teleport into the truck, the teleport the people inside to the station" it gave a quick nod before disappearing. They felt a little bad; taking the police by surprised like this but knew it was necessary. If they had teleported them nearby Team Rocket might have noticed, they figured that the police station was a safe bet though.

Team Rocket would never want to be near there. At least they hoped that was true since they had no other options.

A few tense minutes passed, it was taking so long that Ash was convinced there was a problem. That it had been somehow captured, taken by Team Rocket ending their plan here and now, but then it reappeared. It looked a little tired but generally it wasn't struggling.

They watched as the hypnotised man continued to stall the irate scientist. He clearly was not a patient man and now looked like he was going to tear his eyes out.

They repeated this process two more times, glad that they had a break as by the last time Abra was exhausted "Thanks Abra, you were great"

After this they returned to the police station, they were surprised the plan had gone so well. They had all been there because they expected to be caught and wanted to be able to put up a decent battle. Yet clearly that wasn't necessary.

Only when they arrived they didn't see what they expected. They expected it to be full of police officers, all running about and doing their best to get things under control or wondering how they had gotten back to the station.

Instead what they saw was really surprising, something that they really didn't see coming; it was Pokémon, lots of Pokémon, running around and generally wrecking the place. They didn't seem to have malicious intent; it seemed more like they were just playing.

But they were strangely powerful.

One of the Pokémon, a Bulbasaur was unusually coloured, being a little bit greener then what Ash believed to be common and was currently running around playing in the station. It didn't seem to realise it was accidentally breaking things.

"Abra did what it was supposed to, only instead of police men and women there were these" she gestured to a series of Pokémon running around the station.

"S-so what do we do now?" he looked to Brock, something he was doing frustratingly often recently hoping for an idea.

"There isn't much we can do; they still have the officers somewhere else. We couldn't even get communications back" he gestured to where the hypnotised police officer was once again working on the machines.

"We should attack the trucks" Brock looked at Ash tiredly, he really wasn't being helpful.

"What'll that achieve? They don't have the officers; if they did Abra would have brought them"

Ash went silent, not happy at being wrong but knowing Brock was right. He also knew that it would be a bad idea for other reasons; if they attacked when they were in the city they would run the risk of someone getting hurt. They also didn't know what Team Rocket could do, for all they knew they weren't strong enough for a direct assault.

"Attention puny insects!" a voice magnified by a megaphone yelled at the station "We know you have stolen our property and will now be taking it back, if you do not resist you will not be hurt"

Everyone in the room went stiff, the Pokémon included, at the sound of the scientist's furious voice. How had he realised so fast? They knew he would figure it out, back when they still thought they were saving police officers rather than freeing Pokémon, but they thought they would at least have a few hours.

They barely half an hour, it was utterly ridiculous.

The Pokémon all ran to their human saviours, attempting to hide behind them. The Bulbasaur, that seemed to be greener than the rest hiding behind Brock muttering its name quietly.

Behind Misty was a Psyduck. It was actually quite normal looking which was weird by the standards of these Pokémon. Ash was beginning to notice that most the freed Pokémon looked slightly different. Some having unusual colourings others just being bigger than normal, it was strange that so many abnormal Pokémon would be in one place. "We can't let them take these Pokémon"

They all rushed out front where the scientist form earlier as well as several grunts stood looking angry. "My name is Dr Vile, return the Pokémon now, or we will be forced to use force"

"We know your Team Rocket, we're not going to let you mistreat them Pokémon anymore" Ash yelled trying to seem as threatening as possible. Unfortunately the man didn't seem to find him very threatening.

"You don't understand do you? These Pokémon are not normal and…" he released a Charmander from its ball taking a needle and injecting it with something "Their not the only ones" the Charmander's eyes shot open and its tail flame started burning more powerfully than before, its size increasing to until it as nearly as big as the Pokémon itself, tossing and turning in pain.

"What are you doing?" Ash couldn't help but feel sorry for the Pokémon; no Pokémon should be abused like this.

"These are special injections I made to make Pokémon stronger" he bragged holding up the now empty needle proudly "They unlock powers and ability's they wouldn't usually have. At least in the strong ones" his voice trailed off as an evil glint showed in his eyes.

"What about the weak ones?" Ash felt he knew where this was going and he was furious, this was no way to treat Pokémon.

"If they are too weak to survive the process there's no point to them, they deserve to die" Ash stopped thinking at this, ignoring that fact that as a Pokémon trainer his greatest chance of success was Pokémon he charged at the man.

He drew his fist back, pure rage driving it as it smashed into the old man's face knocking him to the ground. "Grimer" a voice said and Ash looked around in horror as more and more of the sludge Pokémon was released.

"Come on out…everybody" he wasn't very adept at using multiple Pokémon but since he was trying to fight nearly twenty enhanced Pokémon, they were mostly Grimer which was an advantage but some other Pokémon like Zubat and Ekans seemed to have gotten into the mic too, he figured it was necessary.

He heard his friends also releasing their Pokémon. Brock releasing Geodude and Zubat, Misty releasing Staryu and Starmie as well as Squirtle, Damien also joined in throwing out Charmander, Abra and Poliwag to fight.

The battle that ensued was insane. It was nearly impossible to control, he would be trying to get Fearow to take down a Zubat one second just to have to switch and get Clefairy to try to use sing. Unfortunately this strategy was cut short by the recently injected Grimer jumping on Clefairy.

It fell asleep, fortunately, but only a few seconds after Clefairy was returned to its ball by the emergency recall. No doubt was in Ash's mind that Clefairy was poisoned but he wasn't able to do anything about it right now.

"Caterpie string shot to ground that Zubat" Ash commanded watching on as the string based attack rapped its wings causing it to fall with a thud into the hard ground. Ash now noticed that none of Team Rockets Pokémon was being recalled, even after defeat they just lay on the battlefield.

He was sure they had been damaged enough but they stayed out of the balls, it was worrying. He didn't want to risk hurting them too badly and if they couldn't be recalled that was a real risk. "Jump" he watched as Caterpie was able to avoid the swish of Ekans tail by mere hairs length.

"Now go into a tackle" it connected, the combined force of the jump and the tackle all focusing on Ekans head knocking it down and unconscious. It too was not recalled.

He quickly checked on his other Pokémon, Beedrill and Fearow seemed fine. They were working together to take out the stronger Pokémon and were doing so with surprising ease. "Paras use spore" it did so quickly knocking out another Grimer with it.

Ash cursed when he realised this wasn't working, there were just too many to beat them all. It was made especially bad by a particularly strong looking Grimer. Right now it was fighting off Geodude and Brocks Zubat by itself with ease.

The Pokémon didn't even seem to be taking damage. This called for serious action. "Magikarp use dragon rage on Grimer" he hated doing this, the attack still hadn't been perfected so after using it he would have to return Magikarp. But he knew this was his best shot.

The ball of light connected, a huge explosion ensuing knocking Grimer back and kicking up a cloud of dirt. Brock had already warned his Geodude and Zubat to keep their distance so they weren't affected by the attack "No guys move in and attack with everything you've got" Brock yelled pointing at where Grimer's silhouette was becoming clear in the fog.

They did move in finding Grimer to be down but far from beaten. Ash returned Magikarp knowing that was all it could do, the battle was now in Brocks favour and that was more than good enough.

Damien was struggling. He was currently having Abra use teleport to go around the room and occasionally attack a Pokémon. It was more of a supportive role that anything else, working to break the focus of the enemy's so that stronger Pokémon could move in but that was important to.

He was also using Charmander and Poliwag to battle. He wasn't doing too well though, he watched in horror as another sludge attack hit Charmander sending it flying and hitting Poliwag. Both were returned by emergency recall leaving Abra as his one remaining Pokémon.

Ash was now commanding Fearow and Beedrill; the two were having some trouble due to being so severely outnumbered since Clefairy had been defeated. Clefairy lost due to a bad metronome attack of self-destruct, it had defeated the opponent-a very large an intimidating group of Grimer but due to the effect of a move like self-destruct it had been left with no energy forcing Ash to recall it.

But the upside was that the battle seemed to be drawing to a close, with almost all of Team Rockets Pokémon defeated-although there weren't very many left of their side either-but since Brock had succeeded in finishing off the altered Grimer after it was hit by dragon rage things seemed to be going good.

"Zubat use leach life on the twerp" the scientist called and instantly Ash was attacked by a hungry looking bat with huge fangs. He tried to resist but he wasn't strong enough and was soon over powered. The fangs bite into his neck painfully; his blood being drained quickly and painfully. Something he had never felt before, it was so painful that he roared out in pain every time the bat Pokémon sucked on his neck.

"Squirtle tackle that thing to get it off of Ash" the turtle did it well, launching itself and crashing into the offending Pokémon knocking it to the floor. Unfortunately though this wasn't the end, the energy it had stolen from Ash meant that it was more than ready to continue.

It raced forward with a crazed look in its eyes, ready to bite down and drain Squirtle just like it had Ash. "Squirtle use water gun before it can get near you" Misty commanded as she ran over to where Ash had fallen to his knees having been knocked of balance due to Squirtle's attack. "Are you ok?"

He wasn't sure. He was still conscious, which was a good sign, and he seemed to be generally in control of his body. He just felt tired. "Ash your pale" she touched his forehead which was now as white as a sheet "And cold, this isn't good" she said helping him up.

He found that while he felt weak he could walk, but having Misty support him was still nice. When he was distance away he sat down, feeling a little light headed but then stood up. They were still battling they needed him "Paras quick, turn and use scratch on the Ekans behind you" it did stopping the surprise attack before it could be done.

"Ash stop your injured, we can handle this" Misty exclaimed pushing him back down.

"No you can't" the leader of the group said stepping forward flanked by Zubat, Misty looked to see that Squirtle had been defeated. "It's over, your beaten" his Charmander from earlier which was one of few Pokémon still able to battle stepped forward.

He turned to see the small purple lizard that was his prisoner "Ah, I see you've come to surrender as well" he said turning away from the injured teen and the redhead.

"I won't let you take them" Ash tried to stand but ended up standing slumped and weak looking.

"Terrifying…and even if you could do something before, now you definitely can't" he turned and injected the Charmander with another needle from his pocket before they could act. "With this Charmander has had the full treatment, with this, Charmander's power will be increased beyond that of any Pokémon here"

It once more howled in pain collapsing to the ground with its tail flame once more growing to the size of its body. But it didn't stop there; it continued to grow, moving around the body of the powerful lizard Pokémon so that it was surrounded by fire. "Chaaaaaaaaar" its scream was long and pained as its flame continued to grow brighter and hotter.

It burned powerfully, slowly standing up as it was completely enveloped by powerful flames. It looked at Ash and Misty with fury burning in its eyes, the flames surrounding it seeming to pale in comparison to the fire burning in its eyes. "Chaaaaaaaaar"

Then it started to glow a bright white.

A/N

This was really long, and I had to rewrite the thing like 6 times because I kept changing my mind on what exactly should happen, but I think this is good, or as good as I can get it.

While this is a major confrontation with Team Rocket you'll notice it's not against Giovanni or anything, that's deliberate since it thought starting Ash off against the most powerful villains and having him fight legendary might be a bit weird. Magikarp isn't even evolved yet, he wouldn't stand a change. So instead he will be starting with comparatively small threats then building up, but he will be dealing with some quiet major things in time and **definitely **will have a real confrontation with a main villain at some point-I hate that the anime completely avoided him ever fighting Giovanni even in a gym battle instead having him fight Team Rocket, that wasn't interesting at all since he always beats them up!

It was a little awkward getting to the battle I think, I didn't want them to just attack Team Rocket with no plan like idiots so I had to do what I did. The Abra thing isn't to major in my mind though since they are common near where this would logically be in game terms.

Did it work out, please say if it didn't so I can spend another weak trying to think of a way to make it work.

Please review favourite and follow


	12. Charmeleon's fury

Everyone in the room looked at Charmeleon in horror; even Team Rocket appeared scared by what was happen. It was still screaming, still failing to contain its power as it burned brighter and hotter and still glowing white.

It was clear it was evolving; probably due to the forced increase in power evolution was the only to stay alive. That was worrying, for a Pokémon to be pushed so far that it had no choice to evolve meant that it was incredibly powerful.

They watched as it grew, its claws becoming unnaturally long but its body actually being a little undersized. The fire continued to burn around it, only getting bigger and more poorly controlled. But Charmander-or rather Charmeleon-didn't seem bother anymore.

It stood up from the ground slowly, deliberately taking its time. Its face wasn't pained anymore; instead it showed nothing but pure rage. "Hahahah, now do you see? Do you see the power of my science" the evil doctor yelled sounding like a lunatic. "Charmeleon, end this now" he pointed at the teenagers who were huddled in the corner.

The flames surrounding its body turned brighter, the light almost blinding as it prepared its attack. The huge flames built in its mouth, ready to fire and kill its opponent. They were powerless to stop it. Even Misty's Starmie wouldn't have the raw power required to fight such a powerful flame.

And it was only getting bigger.

Ash looked into Charmeleon's eyes, hoping to see something, anything that would suggest he wasn't going to do it. But all he saw was hate and anger. Charmeleon's anger was an all-consuming anger one that threatened to destroy anything and everything in its path.

Finally the attack was ready, and then it was fired. Everyone in the room was helpless, knowing that there was nothing they could do to stop an attack of its magnitude as it barrelled towards its target. Its power, incredible, driven by hate and rage it was stronger than what one would even expect from a Charizard.

It then hit Dr Vile.

It was a clean hit; the man had been completely unprepared for it. Its power was so great that he was thrown back, flying through the air even as the flames licked at his flesh, burning every inch of his body.

He cried out in pain, this was worse than anything he had ever felt before. He stopped though when he crashed into the wall with a sickening thud, his life having been brought to an abrupt end by that one attack.

As he died he thought about his life. How he had gone from a respected scientist, one who was expected to bring about a new age for people and Pokémon alike, to a scientist who worked for Team Rocket. A scientist who had given them everything they would need to create an army of super Pokémon, an army that would most likely take over the world, or destroy it trying.

Looking back he couldn't even think why he did it.

He had just been curious. He had been curious about the idea of using science to bring out a Pokémon's full potential rather than having to train it. It was this curiosity that got him banned from several scientist communities for abusing Pokémon. This curiosity that had made him align himself Team Rocket with the agreement of giving them all his research.

It was this curiosity that had killed him.

But he didn't regret it, because now he knew. He had the answer, and that was all that mattered. With this knowledge he was able to die with a smile on his face, knowing that he had lived his life perfectly, knowing that if he could do it all again he would do the exact same thing.

Only he would have killed that ungrateful lizard the moment he laid eyes on it.

Everyone else was too shocked to do anything. None of them had ever seen a Pokémon kill someone before, especially not its own master. But Charmeleon had. Ash optimistically thought that it might have been a sign of rebellion, a sign that Charmeleon wouldn't be willing to work for someone evil.

But those thoughts were cut short when he turned back to Ash and Misty with a look of crazed anger burning in his eyes. "Charmeleon" its voice was high, the fire that still burned around its body growing bigger and stronger as it looked at its next victims.

This didn't go unnoticed by the rocket grunts, which quickly turned and ran out the room. They didn't even bother returning their injured Pokémon. This didn't go over well with Charmeleon who saw them running.

He swiftly rotated, shooting a powerful flamethrower from his mouth at the door. The flame burst brilliantly, setting the door and the grunts near it on fire. "Char" it advanced towards them, its mouth filling with fire once again.

Noticing his Pokémon, or at least the ones that were still out which looked injured enough anyway, were in its war path Ash quickly returned them. The others soon following suit. But Charmeleon wasn't paying them any attention as it continued to advance towards its new target, contempt burning in its eyes.

They all cowered, some trying to get there Pokémon to fight but they too were too scared. "Char Charmeleon" one grunt, in a panic dashed for the door. He tried to use his sleeve to protect his hand as he opened it and began running. The others followed.

But Charmeleon wouldn't let them get away so easily.

Instead he shot the powerful attack, its power so overwhelming that it shot him back as well as the grunts when it connected. Both going flew in opposite directions, the power of the attack making it so that the low level Team Rocket members were soon just a burning speck in the sky.

"Run" Misty cried grabbing the stunned teen next to her by the hand and making a break for the doors, they weren't surprised to see Brock and Damien had already began running away. Once they were outside they noticed Charmeleon was no longer following them. Instead he was just shooting fire, randomly burning the building.

"He's losing control" Ash said watching as the entire building started burning. "Team Rockets Pokémon" he started running once more, this time into the building to save the various poison types.

"Ash stop" Misty followed after, entering the damaged building to find him lifting up an Ekans and some Zubat "What are you doing?"

"We've got to help them Misty, if we don't they'll be killed by the fire" he yelled running for the exit so he could leave the fainted Pokémon outside where it was safe. Misty looked unsure for a second, was it really a good idea to risk their lives for the enemy?

But then she realised, they weren't the enemy. Team Rocket was the enemy and they were just being controlled by them. Forced to do their bidding then abandoned as soon as they became an inconvenience. She quickly started helping, grabbing as many Pokémon as she could carry before making a break for the exit.

Outside Brock saw this and soon joined, knowing that he would never be able to forgive himself if even a single Pokémon died. Damien was less sure though, he didn't want the Pokémon to die in all but he was still scared. But as he watched Ash, he knew he had to do something.

Ash was fearless, helping the Pokémon without even caring about the danger he was putting himself in to do it. Damien wanted to be like that, so with that thought and only a moment's hesitation he ran into the building and began helping Brock lift a partially large Grimer. Brock smiled at him and he returned; even if he was terrified the whole time doing the right thing felt great.

With all their help, as well as using Abra to teleport a few of the stragglers they soon had every Pokémon out. Brock, with Misty and Damien assisting were treating them and it looked like all the Pokémon would be ok.

Except Charmeleon.

Charmeleon was still inside, his power still out of control as he burnt everything and anything in sight.

Ash didn't hesitate, he rushed straight back inside.

"Ash stop" Misty stood, ready to charge at the boy, to tackle him to the ground to stop him. But Brock caught her shoulder. He didn't say anything, he just gave a stern look that told her she was needed here and that Ash needed to do this. She nodded returning to her treatment of the Pokémon.

He looked around a little when he entered seeing the destruction Charmeleon had caused. The whole place was on fire, smoke filled the ceiling and it looked about ready to collapse any minute. It was clear that if he was going to get Charmeleon out of here safely he would have to hurry.

He soon saw the source of the destruction, still flaming and still furious. He moved forward, trying to move as fast as possible since the building looked about ready to collapse and because the longer he took the more the heat burned.

He reached out, trying to grab Charmeleon so that he could be brought back to safety. But as soon as he tried he was forced to retract his hand, the flames coming off Charmeleon were too hot. He couldn't get near him. "Charmeleon, his place is about to collapse. You have to get out of here!"

"Char-**Charmeleon**" his voice dropped, getting deeper and angrier as it shot a blast at Ash's head. It was poorly aimed though so fuelled by pure adrenaline he was able to dodge.

He knew he had to try again "Please Charmeleon, this is the only way to save you" the lizard looked at Ash, he could see the genuine concern in his eyes and was shocked. He had never known a human to actually care for him before.

He began to reduce his flames, taking the power back into himself. He saw Ash smile at this and smiled back. That is until he felt it; the power inside him was still too great. He couldn't control it, he had evolved to survive it but he still wasn't even close to controlling it.

It lit up again, once more surrounding the Pokémon that had killed its master as it cried out in pain. He struggled, trying to pull the power in once more but couldn't. It burst force violently throwing the young trainer onto his back with a thud.

But he wasn't going to give up.

He crawled forwards, trying to make eye contact with Charmeleon only to find them already forced close from its self-inflicted pain. "Charmeleon, I know you can handle this" it continued to scream, its power not controlled at all.

"All Team Rocket ever taught you was hate and pain. But there more to you than that I know it, you can fight this!" Charmeleon heard these words even over the sound of the building burning and his own screams.

Ash was right, he could fight this. Right now he was the strongest Charmeleon in the world; no way was he going to be beaten by anyone. Especially not himself, that would be stupid! He gritted his teeth, feeling the energy calling back into himself.

He felt the power return to his body, the feeling of forcing energy into his body was horrible. All the pain that had been on the outside was now on the inside, the heat so powerful that it burned even him.

But he had to do this.

He continued, fighting against himself as he drew it all in until he was no longer burning. All the fire on his body except the flame on the tip of his tail receded leaving him looking like a normal Charmeleon. He saw the young trainer smile; this was the last thing he saw before everything went black.

Ash was shocked when Charmeleon collapsed, but he didn't dwell on it. He rushed forward instantly grabbing the Pokémon and making a break for the exit. He burst though, ignoring the flames that threatened to engulf his as he bounded outside.

He was greeted by the sound of his companions cheering, Damien crying slightly out of joy but he still smiled just as big as everyone else.

After this was all a blur to Ash, they rushed all the Pokémon to the Pokémon centre with the help of the fire department. He then watched as the Nurse Joy and Chansey of the centre rushed about treating all the Pokémon, both Team Rockets and theirs.

They were pronounced healthy.

Brock explained what would happen next to Ash. The Pokémon belonging to Team Rocket would be released; since they were in a large group of the same type the police were likely to make a special effort to release them in an appropriate environment.

The police that had been kidnapped hadn't been found, but with the amount of Team Rocket arrests that had been made they were confident that they would be able to get one of them to talk telling them where to find the officers.

This made Ash happy, since the idea of this little town being overrun by Grimer wasn't very settling. The previous test subjects being freed also made Ash happy, they had all be found to have been subjected to the same type of experiment as Chameleon-although to a much lesser degree-so it was nice to think that they would be returning to as normal and happy a life as they could.

But not everything could be that perfect.

Brock looked at Ash seriously, the expression on his face showing that he was fighting with himself over what to say next "You see Ash, when a Pokémon is abused by its trainer its standard that the Pokémon is taken and released in the wild" Ash nodded, they had already covered this "But in cases where the Pokémon attack people, especially if someone dies, this isn't the case"

Ash knew where this was going, but refused to believe it until he heard it for himself "I'm sorry Ash, but once the report gets though. Once they find out that Charmeleon killed its trainer…he'll be put down"

It felt like Ash's world was being destroyed around him, the idea of Charmeleon-the Pokémon he had worked so hard to bond with, worked so hard to save-being killed was horrible. He felt like he was going to be sick. "But he had too; he wasn't in control of his own actions"

Ash thought about Charmeleon's life up until now. The things Team Rocket must have done to him; he clearly didn't want the injections to become more powerful. But they didn't give him a choice, they kept forcing him until it got the point where he had to kill his own trainer or be killed by that trainer as a result of his sick obsession.

And because of that Charmeleon was going to die anyway.

Brock shook his head, a solemn look over taking his features. "I'm sorry Ash, but it's the law"

Ash wouldn't accept this "No! No, I won't let them kill Chameleon, he never asked for this to happen. Team Rocket forced him"

Brock just frowned; he hated this just as much as Ash but knew there was nothing they could do. "There might be a way. In some cases like this, where the Pokémon did bad things because it was abused-or because it lost control of its powers- the Pokémon can be assigned a new trainer if he's deemed capable enough to control the Pokémon and if the Pokémon's capable of controlling the powers"

Ash was silent for a moment in thought "And that trainer would be me…"

Brock nodded "Releasing the Pokémon into the wild would be too dangerous, they would have no way of ensuring it gets a trainer that's capable of controlling it. But many agree that putting down Pokémon that have been the victims of abuse is wrong, that's why this law was made. I'm hoping that, since you were the one to get Charmeleon under control in the police station you can do it again. As a gym leader I can give you a recommendation then you just have to pass the test."

Ash looked at his slightly panicked "Test?" he was really bad at tests, having the life of a Pokémon be based on him taking a test and doing well was a terrible idea!

"Yes, it's simply a test to show that you are a competent trainer that can control the dangerous Pokémon" Ash nodded as way of showing he wanted to try this. He knew he had to. After all, if he didn't Charmeleon would be killed.

He refused to let that happen.

As Brock promised when they finally were able to restore communications, they contacted the police who began the process of returning the Pokémon to suitable environments. Brock's recommendation was enough to qualify Ash for the test and he was able to take it.

"Ok Ash, we've looked over your record and everything seems to be in order" the Officer Jenny who controls Charmeleon's fate said looking at some paper work. "So I'll be deciding on a test for you" Ash nodded showing he understood. She looked up at him and smiled "There's no need to be so tense, this isn't going to be some impossible test or anything"

Ash smiled at this his face losing the tension that he hadn't been fully aware of as he did. "The first test is simple; you must capture the desired Pokémon. A battle is allowed if it is necessary" Ash nodded grinning; maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all.

When he visited Charmeleon he wasn't surprised to find that he wanted a battle, most Pokémon wanted to battle the trainer before joining them. So they went outside to the small Pokémon battle arena to begin. Officer Jenny remained silent the whole time, taking notes on their interactions and looking deep in thought.

Ash thought hard about what Pokémon to use. He now realised that he had no Pokémon that was at a type advantage-except Squirtle who he had no real experience using- but had several with a type disadvantage. He frowned at this thought.

He quickly decided to go with his strongest Pokémon that was also one of the Pokémon he had longest. "Fearow I chose you"

Charmeleon smiled at this jumping excitedly, his tail flared but fortunately his body didn't catch on fire. "Charmeleon" a thick purple cloud of gas came out its mouth heading straight for Fearow.

"What the hell is that? Doesn't matter, Fearow blow it away" Fearow flapped its wings mightily shooting the purple cloud straight back at Charmeleon. Charmeleon was soon affected by the gas looking sick as a result.

Jenny wrote something down as she observed.

"Charmeleon's poisoned, that attack must have been toxic" Ash muttered as he looked at Charmeleon "Ok Fearow, go in for a peck attack" it flew high, gaining altitude and speed before descending hitting Charmeleon square in the chest.

Charmeleon fell back, the attack having hit it hard. But as it fell it unleashed a torrent of flames, the attack hitting the powerful bird before it could get away. "Char" then with glowing claws it lunged forward, the metallic claws slashing right at Fearow's chest.

"Fearow are you ok?" Ash asked seeing that the attack had left a deep mark; he breathed a sigh of relief when Fearow nodded looking pleased. Charmeleon wasn't done though as it gracefully jumped back to its feat firing a powerful flame thrower.

"Fearow fear" Fearow effortlessly dodged out the way before a black portal appeared in front of the large bird, shortly after a flame thrower appeared shooting back at the surprised Charmeleon. The attack wasn't very effective, but due to the surprise though Charmeleon back.

Misty, who had come out when she heard the battle with Brock, looked on shocked "D-did Fearow just learn flamethrower"

Brock smiled shaking his head "No, that's mirror move it's able to copy the last attack used against it. It should be useful to fight Charmeleon though"

"Fearow use flamethrower again, then when he's down use a peck attack" Fearow did it again hitting Charmeleon as it tried to stand before diving into the newly formed smoke. Only Charmeleon wasn't downed. Instead he was standing strong, weakened and covered with minor bruises and cuts but very much able to go on.

It grabbed Fearow around the neck, rearing its head back in preparation for an attack until. "Char!" its whole body trembled as the poison running though it did its damage. Charmeleon tried to prepare another attack, wanting to win using metal claw. But it was too injured. Its attack faded and it fell to the ground, swirls in its eyes signifying its defeat.

Ash recovered from his surprise quickly "Poke ball go" it connected with the defeated Pokémon. It didn't even shake as Charmeleon didn't resist, happy with its new trainer it felt no need. A ding signified the successful capture then it was over.

Ash ran over and collecting the ball with Charmeleon in it "Alright, I caught Charmeleon" he turned to see Brock, Misty and Officer Jenny clapping.

"Well done Ash, here" she threw a small yellow squirt bottle to his, a full heal "Charmeleon come on out" the Pokémon appeared; it looked strong but was still clearly poisoned. "Here, this'll make you feel better" he sprayed it on noticing how Charmeleon instantly started looking heathier.

"Well Ash you passed the first test, you've captured Charmeleon and he seems to have no problem being your Pokémon" she said regaining his attention "So now we just need to ensure Charmeleon's obedient, and I think it know what a good test for that would be" Ash looked at her wondering what she would suggest.

"I want you to use Charmeleon in your next gym battle, if you can maintain control of him throughout then you can be his trainer"

Ash nodded knowing this was important. He looked at Charmeleon's ball, the ball of a Pokémon that had killed its trainer. He didn't know why, but he felt an unbelievable sense of responsibility when thinking about Charmeleon, like he was the one that had to teach him about the good side of humanity, to show him that not everyone was like Team Rocket.

It wouldn't be easy, Charmeleon had endured so much that he had been forced to take a life. But he knew, somewhere deep down there was good in Charmeleon. He could still remember the anger it had shown when those Team Rocket grunts tried to abandon their Pokémon, he could see that it was furious at the idea of them being treated like they had no value beyond their strength, like they were just tools, like how he had always been treated.

Ash didn't know how, but he knew he was going to save Charmeleon.

After that Officer Jenny left, she explained to Ash that while he could keep Charmeleon for the moment it was only provisional. He would be expected to call her or the local police force before his next gym battle so it could be monitored properly.

But for now he was free to spend time with Charmeleon training, although Brock had to supervise the whole time since he was the one to give the recommendation and was viewed as sufficiently skilled due to being a gym leader.

They were now once again on the road to Vermillion city; Ash with his new Pokémon Charmeleon was feeling pretty good about himself. Ash was now at the beach looking for more Pokémon, he was currently looking for Pokémon.

He saw one slowly walking towards him. A small crab like Pokémon with a red shell and brown underside, it looked healthy but didn't appear very strong. He got out his Pokédex to hear its information "Krabby. Lives near the shore. Its average height is about sixteen inches." The information came not being very useful.

He noticed it wasn't as big as it should be but ignored that "Ok, this looks like a job for" he grabbed the desired ball "Caterpie" the small worm Pokémon appeared ready to battle. "Go for it with tackle attack"

The small crab was more of a threat then it seemed though as it repelled Caterpie using bubble. "Come on Caterpie, use string shot to slow it down then try tackle again" it quickly tied it, its whole body being completely encased in the sticky string before Caterpie charged at it hitting it head on knocking it down.

"Prii" the small Pokémon cried shooting string shot into the air. It soon covered itself completely resulting in it changing to a hard shell.

"Caterpie evolved, wow you're a Metapod now" Ash cheered picking up his newly evolved Pokémon and cheering. "Oops almost forgot, poke ball go" he threw the ball and watched as it shook. Once, twice, three times …then the ding of confirmation sounded and Krabby was caught.

"Yes I caught a Krabby" Ash said picking up the poke ball. But when he tried to put it on his belt it had nowhere to go. "Huh, all the slots are filled. Then what should I do with Krabby's ball"

"You should just transport it, you can do this by pressing the white button inside you Pokédex" Brock explained showing him how it worked.

"But I just caught Krabby, I want to train it a bit at least" Ash said looking at the button.

"Then send Beedrill back, it's a horrible bug type anyway" Ash glared at Misty, what was so bad about bug types anyway?

"Or maybe you should send back a different Pokémon, I'm sure the professor would be very excited to research Clefairy for example. There quiet rare" Ash looked down, Brock did have a point.

"Maybe we should call, find out what Professor Oak want to have" Ash said looking around looking for some sign of civilisation. "Hey is that a lighthouse" they quickly decided to stay there, Ash wanting to call Professor Oak and Misty wanting to sleep in a bed.

Just outside of the lighthouse the three travellers stood, preparing to talk to the keeper on the intercom when all of a sudden. "Oh thank goodness people, please help me" they looked around, trying to identify the source of the voice but saw nothing. "Down here"

They looked down and saw it, a Pokémon. Only they could have sworn they heard it talk "Hello my name is Bill I'm a Pokémon-"

"Oh my god a talking Pokémon" Ash jumped back grabbing Beedrill's ball and throwing it forward. "Time to catch it"

"Wait what?" what Ash believed to be a talking Pokémon was actually Bill, the Pokémon researcher, who had been trapped in the body of a Pokémon after his last experiment.

"Wait no Ash stop" Misty said getting in the way of Ash and Beedrill.

"Why?"

"Cos I'm goanna catch it" Misty said throwing out her Pokémon, a Starmie.

"Hey that's no fair!" Bill didn't like this; if he stayed he was going to get caught.

"Shut up Ash, this is a Wooper, a water type. So it's mine to catch" she explained not backing down. Bill tried to retreat into his house but found he still couldn't work the door when in this body. He walked up to the only that didn't seem to want to capture him.

"Hello, I'm not a Pokémon. I'm Bill the Pokémon researcher" he introduced himself with a bow.

"Really? You look like a Pokémon to me" Brock said kneeling down to be at eye level.

"There was an accident; I've been stuck in this body for a while now"

"NO I'M GOING TO CATCH IT" Ash yelled standing on his tip toes to try to look Misty in the eye but she just raised her nose further.

"Please stop them"

"Right" Brock nodded turning to his friends "Hey guys"

"Ash just shut up and let me catch it"

"Seriously this is important"

"What?" they both yelled in sync turning all their anger on Brock.

"This isn't a Pokémon" he pointed at Bill who was cowering behind his leg. They both looked at him like he was an idiot, they both knew it was a Wooper, why was he acting like it wasn't?

"I'm actually a Pokémon researcher; I just got stuck in this body after trying to fix the Pokémon transfer system. These hands are the best for intricate work" he said holding up his small blue arms.

"Uh huh" they were still talking in unison "So we can't catch you?"

"Please don't" Bill was slightly curious as to whether or not humans turned into Pokémon could be caught, but he certainly didn't want to find out.

After this everything was cleared up and they went into the lab. Brock agreed to help Bill get back to normal-apparently it would just involve fixing the Pokémon transfer system and putting him back in it with the Wooper that was now in his body-.

Misty and Ash also was offered to help and eventually everything was fixed-although Bill said it wasn't too complicated they still had no idea what they were doing the whole time and were essentially just tools to do work for Bill-and Bill came out in a human body.

He was a short man, although he was taller than Misty he still wasn't very tall, and had brown hair. He was also relatively slim with relatively common cloths of a white t-shirt, a blue tie and green trousers.

"Thanks so much for that, being a Wooper was fun but I'm really glad to be back in my own body" he said stretching until he got a satisfying click of his back "Now I understand you wanted to use my phone"

Ash took a moment to realise he was being spoken to, the incredibly strange situation having left him a little unresponsive. "Oh right yeah…"

"Right this way" he took him to a small video phone, the set being a Bellsprout based one which he was to use "I'll give you some privacy" he then turned and left Ash to his call.

Ash called collect, he hoped the professor wouldn't mind and felt like it would be rude not to since he wasn't the one paying for the call if he didn't. When the screen turned on he saw Professor Oak, leaning over a table with a bowl on noodles. "Uh…hi"

"Hello Ash, you've caught me cooking dinner. My cook is on dinner, and I've got to fend for myself until she returns" he said playing with the food a little.

"Hi, I've been having a problem carrying all my Pokémon with me"

"I'm not surprised, you must have far too many to still carry them all. Why haven't you been sending them to me?" Ash sweat dropped at this, he had actually forgotten that he was supposed to do that when he got to many Pokémon.

"Well…I've wanted to train them all so I guess I just got a little caught up in that" the professor nodded in acknowledgment.

"Still Ash you should know that having too many Pokémon at once can be a bad idea when travelling, it's hard to give them all the attention they need since they spend so long in their balls" Ash nodded, he actually felt a little bad for trying to keep them all now "Anyway, how many are you going to send me, five, six"

"Actually…I was thinking more along the lines of one or two" he looked at the man who frowned.

"You know Ash most trainers only keep about six Pokémon with them at any one time, since that's the most used in league battles" Ash nodded, he knew that.

"Yeah but I've only got eight in total" the professors eyes shot open.

"Only eight" he yelled before he could stop himself "My grandson already has twenty" he said smiling proudly. Ash knew he was just proud of Gary but he couldn't help but feel a little put down by this. "Anyway, which ones are you planning on sending me?"

"Actually I was wondering if you had a preference" Ash said looking at him a little blankly.

"Him…maybe, put your Pokédex into the slot and I'll have a look" Ash did as he said finding one and placing it in. "I see, this is very interesting…Clefairy seems interesting, none of the other trainers have caught one and…this Charmeleon seems interesting, the data the Pokédex got on it is very unusual"

Ash nodded, he was fine sending Clefairy but "I don't think I'll be able to send Charmeleon"

Oak quirked a brow at this "Why not?"

Brock who had been standing behind Ash silently up till now decided to speak up "Charmeleon was with Team Rocket before, Ash has taken him in but is only allowed to keep him if he can prove he can control him"

The professor nodded "I see, that's quite serious…in that case how about Metapod, he won't be able to battle very effectively until he evolves after all" Ash nodded quickly getting out his Pokédex and-following the instructions of the professor-he used it to send the desired Pokémon to him. "Ok Ash I've received them on my end"

"Great professor thanks, bye"

"Goodbye Ash" and with that the phone blinked off.

After this they spoke to Bill who revealed he was a Pokémon researcher. It turned out he had come here hoping to meet an incredibly rare Pokémon that was thought to be extinct but that he believed still existed around the world, humans just don't know where.

The man was quiet flamboyant, somehow going straight from serious to playful in the time it takes to blink. He told them about Pokémon in general as well; apparently there were over one hundred and fifty Kanto native Pokémon and even more in other regions.

This shocked Ash, he always knew there were lots of Pokémon but he still found the idea of there being so many in Kanto alone quiet strange. Bill also revealed that recently, due to human intervention Pokémon from other regions would often end up in Kanto.

Trainers would travel far and wide to capture them, then they would breed and or be released resulting in the species becoming popular in the area if the conditions were right. He said that this was actually quiet dangerous though, since it meant that they could end up upsetting the natural ecosystem even though they didn't mean to.

He also gave them ticket to the S.S Anne as a reward for helping him out, they insisted it wasn't necessary but he just dismissed it. Apparently he wasn't really the type for it anyway since it was meant to be trainer and he just got them as a reward of some kind.

So with that they left, having to hurry to ensure they would be able to make it to Vermillion in time to challenge the gym with time left over to then get on the S.S Anne before it left.

The next day they stood at the edge of Vermillion City, a large sign with 'Vermillion city' confirmed this as they looked inside. They were covered in dirt, tired and hungry. Ash in particular with thinking about food, Misty was thinking about getting a bath and Brock was most concerned about doing the laundry-a habit that had formed from needing to help take care of his siblings for so long.

They rushed to the Pokémon centre, the only place where they could get everything they needed. The first thing they did upon arriving was check in all there Pokémon, when they were waiting for their Pokémon though they were shocked to see a Rattata come in looking extremely beaten up on a stretcher.

"Wow that Rattata's in pretty bad shape. What do you think happened to it?" Ash said feeling worried at the sight of such an injured Pokémon.

"Oh, that's the eighth one this week alone" Nurse Joy said rushing after the Chansey that was taking it into the medial room. They followed her, shocked by her statement.

What they saw when they arrived was even more shocking. Injured Pokémon were filling every bed, there was more than Ash could even see as it continued around the corner all with different injuries. "They all lost to Lt Surge, the Vermillion gym leader"

Ash looked at the injuries, they were brutal. There was no other way of looking at it. Clearly when he battled he didn't hold anything back. "I can't believe anyone could injure this many Pokémon and not feel bad"

Misty shot him a sideways glance "So Ash…You scared already?" why did she seem so happy, what about him being scared was fun for her?

Ash looked back at the Pokémon, there were all kinds and they all looked like they were strong. Clearly Surge was no push over. "Just a little nervous, I haven't used Charmeleon before…but I know he's strong, he can definitely do this" Ash said looking down at the poke ball attached to his hip. Charmeleon had been though a lot, he didn't want him to be injured by Surge as well.

He that if he let Charmeleon fight, and he got hurt like these other Pokémon it wouldn't go down well, Team Rocket had already exposed him to so much pain. Ash refused to let him be hurt anymore!

He made a vow to himself, if it any point it looked like Charmeleon was beat, like fighting further would just cause him to be unnecessarily injured he would forfeit. The badge wasn't nearly as important to him as Charmeleon's health, both physical and mental.

Misty flicked his nose "Ash, you space out. Don't do that" she looked a little worried, clearly she could tell he was more nervous than he let on.

"Don't worry Misty, like I said. We can handle this" he clenched his fist in determination; he would back down if it was to protect Charmeleon. But he wouldn't have to since he was going to win anyway.

"I'm not worried about you; I'm worried about my reputation. I gave you that gym badge, if you lose how d'you think that will make me look?" she huffed turning away from him, how dare he say she worried about him!

"You didn't give me that badge I beat you fair and square" Ash glaring at the back of her head as she refused to acknowledge him.

"Yeah, you also knocked out everyone else in the gym" Ash blushed slightly, that wasn't a great call. He really should have trainer with sing more, that way Clefairy would have been able to target the attack instead of just hitting everyone with it.

"Who cares? A wins a win and I won, I beat you" he said sticking out his tongue at the end.

"That's enough, remember this is a hospital" they turned to see that all the people who were checking on their Pokémon were now glaring at the duo. They sweat dropped unable to think of anything to say that would save the situation. "They say if two people fight they really care about each other"

"Me care about him" Misty and Ash said in unison before both turned with a huff, Ash said 'him' instead of 'her' on purpose. Nurse Joy giggled at this while Brock looked irritated, how did they always talk in unison like that?

**Bing ding Bing ding **the familiar Pokémon centre sound chimed confirming that the treatment of someone's Pokémon was complete. "Well looks like your good to go"

After this they called the police to report that the battle would be taking place soon and Ash collected his Pokémon. When the Officer Jenny arrived Ash couldn't tell if it was the same one as before or not but considering what she would be deciding he didn't comment fearful of angering her. He knew she would be professional no matter what, but pissing people off who had control over your Pokémon's fate was never a good idea anyway

Then they arrived outside the gym, Ash with his normal travelling companions and his just for today Jenny looked at the large imposing gym. Ash already he knew he would be using Charmeleon, and since the general view of this gym was that it was electric type and a one Pokémon battle focus he knew no other Pokémon needed to be selected.

The doors opened with a creak to reveal a large dark room. A man in a leather spiked jacket and a woman in a red tank top stood in front of him. "I'm here for a gym battle"

"Hey boss, another victim here for the emergency room" Behind him a large silhouette appeared, the man's features completely unreadable due to the dark.

"Which one?" he stepped into the light revealing himself, and there was a lot to reveal. The guy was huge! He wore nothing but army fatigue jacket and trousers with standard army boots. His dog tag still hung around his neck and he had on thick fingerless gloves.

"Welcome to Vermillion gym" he grabbed Misty bringing her into a hug making her let out a slight noise of surprise when he pulled back he looked at her searchingly "Oh, my next challengers a cute one baby"

"Misty isn't cute, you shouldn't say things like that" immediately jumping to defend her and getting right in the giant man's face.

"Hey!" she yelled irritated, Lt Surge just grinned, he had no idea who this guy was. All he could tell was that he was bold and had trouble speaking. He liked him.

"That didn't…" he drifted off awkwardly, he hadn't meant to insult her like that "…come out right. I tried to say 'Misty isn't a baby' but the cute part threw me off and I got tongue tied" he chuckled looking around, Misty was glaring at him while everyone else was grinning, this did nothing to make him feel more comfortable "Anyway I'm your challenger!" Ash said regaining some of his confidence.

"Alright, I accept your challenge. What's with the officer though" he gave the Jenny a look that Ash couldn't decipher "There isn't a …problem with his boy is there"

She shook her head smiling "He had recently become the trainer of a Charmeleon that had an unfavourable time with its former trainer who is now deceased. Due to this I have to see whether or not he is capable of controlling Charmeleon's…unusual powers, that is what this gym battle is for"

Lt Surge frowned; he hated it when they used talk like this to hide the truth. He was a military man himself and had probably dealt with far worse yet they still wouldn't tell him. "Whatever follow me and I'll show you where we'll be battling"

The battle field was simple, dirt with the normal white lines indicating the border. Ash got in the trainer box standing ready "Charmeleon lets due this" the Pokémon emerged from its ball with a loud growl of 'Char'

"Hey, not bad…but no way is it strong enough to beat my Pokémon" he threw the ball forward unleashing the powerful fully evolved electric type smirking the whole time.

A/N

And I'll stop here, any guesses what the powerful electric type is.

If you get it right and review or PM to tell me there'll be an update within a day (not a huge amount else I can offer) although I will also give shout outs as well.

I sort of skipped Mystery at the lighthouse because it's pointless, I'm not a huge fan of Super Giant Pokémon since they are a bit weird and have a lot of flaws in terms of explaining them and not having them be stronger than anything anyone could do so all I really wanted was Krabby to be caught-because he's awesome-and for Ash to then get to Vermillion

And so Ash has a Charmeleon, only this one has had a way worse past then Charizard from canon. Will Ash pass the test and be able to keep Charmeleon, or will he be down. Find out in the next chapter!

As always please review, favourite and follow


	13. A Day with Ash

A/N

When a Pokémon speaks in poke then there brackets after it that's what it's translated too

Lt Surge's Pokémon appeared before them. It was an electric type-which wasn't surprising no an electric specialist gym-and it appeared to be ready for battle. It was fully evolved, already having met the requirements to do so and appeared stronger than the average.

Charmeleon was pleased, he enjoyed battle and knew this was a strong opponent. It would definitely be worth his time.

"Alright baby, prepare to lose" he taunted looking just as pleased as his Pokémon.

"Don't call me baby" it was the second most annoying nickname Ash had ever been given, Gary having invented the most annoying.

"Baby, that's what I call everyone I beat"

"Ok Charmeleon, it's time for our first battle as partners" Charmeleon gave a slight nod, he didn't know if he truly wanted to be this trainer Pokémon. He called him a 'partner' or 'friend' for some reason that he didn't understand.

He was still surprised that he had lost to the boys Fearow, clearly he at least some power. But that didn't mean he would just serve him blindly. He had served Team Rocket like that and looked where it got him, abused and unable to use his full power without hurting himself.

He frowned at the thought; he knew Ash wasn't like that though. He thought back to Ash coming into the burning building to save him. He still wasn't completely sure why he did it though. Charmeleon wouldn't have tried to save them, he did avoid killing them but that was more out of a lack of interest than anything else-he took no pleasure in causing non-Team Rocket members harm.

"Ready, begin" the referee shouted throwing down red and green flags. Charmeleon had decided; at least for now he would try being this humans 'partner' but he held little hope for it lasting.

Lt Surge grinned, matching the large grin of his Pokémon. His Pokémon was round, a perfect sphere or close enough and had a small face. Its colouring was that of an inverted poke ball. "Electrode let's make this quick, Sonic boom!"

The ball Pokémon began spinning rapidly a white light forming "Dodge it Charmeleon" Ash yelled watching as the shockwave formed heading straight for it. Charmeleon dodged with the minimum effort possible, simply stepping to the side. He didn't understand why Ash told him to dodge, he would do it anyway.

Lt Surge grinned "You think you're pretty tough don't you? Electrode tackle"

"Use smoke screen then dodge" Charmeleon shot powerful torrent of flames shooting from its mouth heading straight for Electrode ignoring Ash's command completely, why use a move to help dodge when he had the power to not need to?

"Light screen" a yellow box of light appeared just before the attack connected absorbing most the damage and allowing Electrode to keep going "Now go into take down attack" he started spinning faster and faster the powerful normal type attack barrelling towards Charmeleon.

This time he wasn't able to dodge in time, he was hit by the full force of the normal type attack sending him careening into the air with a pained "Char"

"Bounce of the wall then hit it with metal claw" Charmeleon did, using the wall as a spring board to bounce back hitting into Electrode and slashing violently sending it flying back. It was good advice so he listened to it, maybe Ash wasn't so bad.

That's how Charmeleon saw it anyway, advice. Advice being something he would ignore if he felt it was stupid. It helped that the battle was incredibly easy anyway, Charmeleon wasn't using his full power and he was glad. He didn't know what would happen if he tried to use his full power.

He thought about it and Ash was kind of like an assistant, Charmeleon did everything Ash just gave suggestions. He supposed having an assistant wouldn't be too bad.

Officer Jenny who was watching noted this. "So, how's Ash doing?" Misty wasn't very familiar with the exact rules of owning dangerous Pokémon but it looked good.

"Hn, he's seems to be mostly in control, at least no major issues…but if things keep going like this I won't be able to pass a full judgement" the Jenny informed still watching the battle.

"What? But Ash is winning" Misty said looking as Charmeleon dodged rollout again.

"That's not the point; the point is to prove he can calm down Charmeleon when it's stressed and angry. I was hoping this gym battle would be enough to get Charmeleon going but" she watched as Charmeleon commanded by Ash continually avoided attack after attack "It's just not enough of a challenge"

Lt Surge couldn't believe this; this little baby was completely controlling the battle. He had to change this "Alright baby, I'll admit you're not half bad" his grin didn't falter for a second "But you're not nearly good enough. Electrode hyper beam now"

"Electrode!" it spun around quickly targeting Charmeleon who was in the air after dodging the last rollout "Electrode!" it shot the powerful yellow beam it barrelling straight for the powerful lizard Pokémon.

"Charmeleon dodge" Ash watched as Charmeleon turned bracing for impact, clearly he had no intention of dodging. As the attack connected he screamed in pain, it then crashed into the wall hard before falling to the ground. "Charmeleon are you ok?" he saw him shakily getting to his feet, clearly shaken up after that last attack.

"Char-Char-Charmeleon!" Charmeleon screamed throwing his arms back fire exploding around it as it unleashed its full power once again "Charmeleon" it charged at Electrode its claws drawn back and glowing ready to deal a powerful attack.

"Now this is interesting, Electrode dodge then use Thunder" he commanded the ball Pokémon dodged easily like Charmeleon had been doing before shooting a powerful thunder at it. It screeched in pain as the attack connected, the electricity flowing through its system devastating.

"Charmeleon, focus use smokescreen" Ash was ignored as Charmeleon continued to use unsuccessful attacks one after another, never each time missing by more and more "Come on Charmeleon, don't let your anger control you" he saw as Officer Jenny watched holding a poke ball of her own in her hand, she was ready to intervene soon if needed.

Charmeleon wasn't enjoying this, it was in pain it was feeling the familiar burn of fire as it unleased the power Team Rocket had put inside it. It could feel it burning inside and out, it could hear Ash vaguely but no clearly. The sound of its own flames consumed his voice.

He continued attacking, unable to think of anything else other than causing the thing that hurt him pain. Its flames grew bigger, growing hotter and more painful as well. It hated it. It seemed the more angry it got the more tired it got and the more pain it felt.

He couldn't stop though. The pain fuelled his anger and his angry fuelled his pain, he continue to attack, not even feeling the counter attacks from Electrode-they were nothing compared to the pain caused by its own fire-as it missed over and over.

"Charmeleon stop, this isn't right" how did Charmeleon hear that so clearly? It sounded like it was coming from everywhere and was louder than even the fire. Charmeleon wanted to stop, but he couldn't. "Charmeleon, if you keep going your just letting Team Rocket win!" Was he actually saying this or was he imagining him saying it, Charmeleon didn't know.

But he knew he was right, he was letting Team Rocket win. He was becoming what they wanted him to be, he was being consumed by his rage. He started fighting, no longer trying to fight Electrode but instead fighting his own fire.

It burnt, he would stop it though. He began forcing it back into himself, feeling the energy forcefully re-enter his body. It burned but he refused to stop. When it was finally all over he saw Electrode, he was covered in burns but Charmeleon knew he was in worse condition.

"Charmeleon, do you want to stop?" Ash called surprising Charmeleon slightly, Ash always seemed to want to know what he wanted to do. He was quiet a good assistant, finding battle for him to participate in and offering advice and he was willing to quit to. He was nothing like the various Team Rocket members who had controlled him before.

Charmeleon nodded returning to a battle ready stand and looking at the ball Pokémon. He felt the energy again, the fire that had burned so much before. Only it wasn't in his body or surrounding him, it was forming in his mouth like an attack.

Charmeleon's body glowed, Ash briefly thought he was losing control until he saw the energy forming in his mouth "What move is that?"

"Electrode another light screen" the previous one had faded but Electrode formed a new one that looked just as powerful. Charmeleon ignored it though, the energy in his mouth definitely wasn't his full power but it was much closer.

With a scream of 'char' he unleashed the attack that barrelled into the light screen; it stalled briefly before it broke though that too shattering it like glass. It hit Electrode with lots of its power still remaining causing it to shriek in pain as it was thrown into the wall.

"Charmeleon, follow up with metal claw" Charmeleon listened thinking it was an alright idea rushing forward and slashing at Electrode as it fell. It was a perfect hit, doing all the damage necessary to leave it lying on the ground with spirals in its eyes. "Yes Charmeleon you did it"

Charmeleon smirked "Charmeleon char-char (I know I did)" he said standing just a little bit taller than before. He was shocked when he tackled him with a hug; throwing him to the floor "Char (Idiot get off me)" Charmeleon yelled shooting an extra weak flame to emphasis the point.

Ash yelped in surprise jumping back "Heh, not a hugger aye Charmeleon" he shook his head getting read of the soot, the flame hadn't really burnt but it left him dirty. "Great job though, now you can rest" Charmeleon nodded as it went into its ball.

Later, after dropping Charmeleon off at the Pokémon centre the three were looking to Officer Jenny waiting for her to pass her judgement now that she had seen the match, Ash was nervous because of it. Charmeleon had lost control, and that was not a good sign. She seemed to be thinking, deciding whether or not this was ok. "Well guys, I think Charmeleon and Ash passed"

They all sighed in relief, but Brock couldn't help but point out "But Ash couldn't control Charmeleon fully and Charmeleon lost control" she just smiled softly.

"Yes, but I knew he would if he was pushed" Brock frowned at this "Yes, Ash definitely has some work to do. But the point of this test isn't to prove that the trainer is able to work well with the Pokémon. The point of it is to make sure the Pokémon isn't dangerous or to ensure that the trainer can control it when it is dangerous, and Ash was able to get Charmeleon though his rage. I have no reason to believe that Charmeleon is a threat to public safety so you can therefore continue to be his trainer, under Brocks supervision of course"

Ash smiled happy, he didn't mind that Brock was technically supervising him. What he really cared about was Charmeleon, if he was safe that was all that mattered. After this Officer Jenny turned to leave "I'll be filing my report now, remember that while you are officially Charmeleon's trainer Brock is the one who recommended you so you need to have him around for at least a year to ensure your safety" Ash nodded, it really didn't make a difference since he was already travelling with Brock anyway.

"Also I have some good news, the missing officers have been found, there location was revealed by the Team Rocket grunts that were still alive and they were found. It will take a while but they should be able to restore order to their town eventually." This made them all happy, it hadn't quiet sat right with them when they had been forced to leave after failing to save the officers. The police had told them they had too, since it was an official matter but they still didn't like it.

Of course once they realised that they had to leave, in order to ensure Charmeleon could become Ash's Pokémon-which was the only way to prevent him being put down-they had complied. But even so, not knowing had really been bothering them.

Then she left, leaving the happy trio alone. No one spoke for a while, no wanting to ruin the happy moment just yet. They just stood at edge of town, waving to Officer Jenny as she rode back to her station.

Later on they would be boarding the S.S Anne, ready to begin their boat ride. Ash was upset they had to leave so soon, Misty in particular seemed excited for a boat trip. They looked at the giant ship before them. "The St Anne…wow" Brock said breathlessly as he looked at the impressive ship.

They boarded quickly, flashing an inspector their tickets as they went up a large escalator. "Welcome aboard he St Anne, this way" he gestured towards the inside of the ship.

When they entered they saw what appeared to be an upper class party taking place in a large room. The floors were red and there were stair cases leading to the next floor across the room. Numerous people were scattered around occupying the seats or standing as they talked to each other.

There were stands across the sides where people were trying to sell various Pokémon related things ranging from balls to the Pokémon themselves. They also saw lots of people who held small cute looking Pokémon as well as larger stronger ones showing them off. Ash released Charmeleon.

"Hey Ash, why'd you release Charmeleon" Misty asked noticing the confused look on the lizards face as it looked around the room.

"Well during our battle there was some …issues, I thought that spending time with him would help with that, right buddy" he knelt down to the small lizards face. Charmeleon fearing another hug quickly shot out a warning burst of fire. "Heh, I know I asked you to warm up to me but…" he shook his head.

"Charmeleon, char-char (Whatever assistant, I'm hungry go get me some food)" Charmeleon said turning away and searching the room for any strong Pokémon to beat. Unfortunately he was left quiet disappointed at a first glance since all he saw were small 'cute' Pokémon.

"Hey guys since we're here do you want to get something to eat" Ash asked rubbing his stomach.

"That's all you ever think about even now when we're on this amazing boat" Misty complained walking off.

"Hey that's not true…sometimes I think about battling to" Ash said rushing to catch up with her, he missed the odd look he received from Charmeleon. Charmeleon was now wondering if Ash understood him, or if it was just coincidence, both seemed possible since he was always thinking about food anyway.

As they were walking Ash noticed a battle where a Raticate defeated a Starmie using Super fang. "Wow Charmeleon, that was impressive. You want to try battle him?" Charmeleon shook his head looking bored. The Raticate really didn't look very impressive.

The man was gracious in victory, stating that he was simply lucky. He was dressed strangely though, wearing formal attire with a top hat, cane and glasses. "Well now, is there anybody left brave enough to battle my Raticate?"

Ash stepped forward happily "I will" he threw his ball forward releasing Magikarp and hearing some snickering from the amassed crowd.

"Now boy, far be it from me to question your decisions but don't you think that Charmeleon of your would be better?" he gestured to where Charmeleon was casually lying to watch the battle.

"Sorry, he's not really in the mood for battle right now" more snickers as Charmeleon gave him a firm nod "Besides, Magikarp powerful too and I need to train him so he can evolve" Ash said throwing out the black fish.

"Any chance Ash actually knows what he's doing" Misty turned to see Brock watching the fight silently "I thought not"

"As you wish" he paused looking at its unusual colouring as the audience discussed it as well "Raticate high jump kick" it launched itself forward looking confident.

"Magikarp let's try splash to dodge followed by dragon rage" Ash advised watching as it did dodge before preparing the orange ball of energy in its mouth. He smirked at the surprised sounds coming from the audience; they didn't know that his Magikarp was special.

He just hoped that all the work to improve Magikarp's endurance would pay off. "Raticate, let finish this with a super fang attack" he yelled his Raticate obeying by lunging at Magikarp. Charmeleon was bored; this fight was far from interesting. Although he was curious as he watched the ball of energy forming in Ash's Pokémon's mouth, he didn't know that Ash had more Pokémon that had the ability to learn dragon type moves.

Just as the super fang was about to connect the energy ball hit, a large explosion following after it as Raticate was thrown to the floor. "Raticate" the man called rushing forward to check on it only to find it on the floor with swirls in its eyes but no major injuries beyond that. "I must say, you've trained that Magikarp of yours very well for it to be able to do something like that"

Ash smiled shaking the man's hand while they returned their Pokémon "Thanks, your Raticate was great too" he shot Misty a smug look, he had heard her saying he couldn't win making it even more satisfying that he did.

"Char-Charmeleon (Assistant, what happened to lunch?" Charmeleon asked walking up and gesturing to his mouth for clarity; Ash seemed to understand and nodded.

Later on the trio were eating lunch, all their other Pokémon were also out (Magikarp, Goldeen and Misty's other Pokémon being places in a water area nearby) and the land based Pokémon being with them as they ate on the outside deck.

The wealthy man from earlier approached the group, a beautiful brunette in a red long dress that hugger her slender form next to him. "So you having yourself a good time?" he asked getting a quick 'yep' from Ash.

"You know that Magikarp of yours is quiet extraordinary" he said before Ash could further elaborate on how good of a time he was having.

"It's incredible" the woman said making Brock blush deep red, the sound of her voice enchanting to him.

"Thank you sir, your Raticate was very impressive too" Ash said nodding and stopping eating to speak.

"If that's the case I'll be direct why don't we trade?" he said sounding excited by the idea.

"Um sorry but no, Magikarp was my first Pokémon and we're very close. I don't think I would be comfortable trading him" the man frowned but still nodded reluctantly. After this they spoke a little more, the man talking about his Raticate and Ash talking about his other Pokémon while they ate

After this Ash's Pokémon decided to take a rest, Magikarp still enjoying its swimming while the others napped. Ash was pleased to see that his training with Magikarp to try to improve endurance had worked since he was able to continue swimming happily despite having used dragon rage.

As he was walking though he got yelled that "You there boy, come here" he turned only to have a Magikarp thrown at his face. He struggled to hold it as the Pokémon repeatedly used splash "Tell me honestly, have you ever seen a happier livelier Pokémon"

Ash looked at it, it did not look happy at all. He walked forward putting back into the open tank and noticed it instantly seemed happier. "Just between you and me this Magikarp is a Pokémon goldmine" Ash nodded not really getting why this man was doing this. "Each of these Magikarp lays one thousand eggs, each of those then lays a thousand that give you a million eggs, then each of those lays a thousand eggs and you sell them for one hundred dollars each and your rich"

Ash wasn't listening to the man at all. Instead he was looking at Magikarp, he felt bad for it. It was trapped in the cramped container, waiting to be sold to who knows. It must be horrible. "How much?"

"I will give you this Magikarp, and an egg laying kit and an education set for just three hundred dollars" Ash shook his head.

"How much for you to release it back into the wild?" the man frowned at him.

"Didn't you just here me? This is a goldmine, you'll be rich beyond your wildest dreams!" he said doing a dramatic slapping of paper against the desk.

"Yeah I'm not really interested in money to be completely honest…I just want to free the Magikarp" the man looked at him irritated.

"Tell you what, I've got ten Magikarp, usually I charge one hundred dollars each. But since it's you I'll charge one thousand for the lot" He pulled back the desk to reveal all the Pokémon cramped together in a tiny little container.

They all looked so sad, unable to swim about and enjoy themselves. He knew he had to help them; he had to help them be happy and free like they should be.

There was only one problem, they cost one thousand for all of them, Ash frowned he didn't have that kind of money. "What's the problem?"

Ash looked up at him sheepishly "I'll give you …50 dollars" Ash said holding his wallet to check that was in fact all he had. He was actually a little surprised he had that much. After that he was chucked out so fast it hurt a little.

Misty was sunbathing happily, wearing nothing but a bright red bikini and big black sunglasses and loving the feeling of the sun on her skin. Then something started blocking her sun, she shifted slightly only to find it was covering everything. Only one thing in the world could annoy her this much. "What do you want Ash?"

Ash jumped slightly, he had been trying to think of the right way to approach this but he didn't realise she knew he was there. "Hey Misty, I was wondering…" he supposed being direct wouldn't be too bad "If I could have a thousand dollars"

She lifted her glasses letting him see her roll her eyes before she lowered them "In case you forgot you still owe me for my bike, I'm not going to give you more money"

He frowned; he was hoping she wouldn't bring that up. "Come on Misty…" he frowned trying to think of a way to persuade her-something he was not skilled at-he had already failed to get money from his mother. His mother had also refused, saying that he wasn't allowed to use him money!

"If you need money why don't you just enter the tournament?" she said rolling away from him. Maybe he should try looking for Brock-his first choice-again; he couldn't find him anywhere though.

"Tournament?" if it was a Pokémon tournament he could do, if it was anything else he was screwed. She pointed to the wall where a poster lay. He walked over and read it. It was called the St Anne tournament-very creatively named-and the prize was. He scanned looking until he saw it, the prize was two thousand dollars, minus the hundred dollar entry fee and he still had money to spare.

Then he stopped. The entry fee was one hundred dollars, he had fifty. "Hey Misty" his tone was the exact same as the first time he begged.

"What?" he really couldn't tell she wanted him to go.

"Can I borrow fifty dollars?" she sat up raising her sunglasses to look at him.

"For the tournament" he nodded "Then…since I'm paying half the fee I get half of the winnings" with that she reached into her bag extracting a fifty and handing it to him. He didn't protest one thousand was more than enough to help the Magikarp.

Later on Ash stood in the lower levels of the boat looking at his opponent list. There's thirty five people entered, but since he was a late arrive he had to do an extra round. That meant he had to win six rounds. He could do that, probably.

"Contestants Ash Ketchum and Rebecca Smith please report to the battle field, your battle is starting shortly" Ash walked out to see the battlefield. It was simple design, a small dirt field with the standard markings. He also noted that there were bleachers on either side that were filled with spectators.

This actually made him a little nervous; he had never been watched by so many people before. But he pushed it out of his mind. He wanted to win this so he could free the Magikarp. "Contestants ready" both he and the short red head across the field nodded. The referee then tossed a coin "Call it"

"Heads" Ash yelled quickly the referee caught the coin slamming it onto the back of his other hand.

"Ash will be starting" Ash nodded grabbing what he hoped would be a good choice. "Beedrill I chose you" the large intimidating bee appeared clashing its pins together.

The girl on the other side of the ring frowned; she reached for her first ball before hesitating and switching to the second. "You're up Sandshrew" she called throwing the ball to reveal the small ground type.

The referee dropped both his flags with a shout of 'begin' signalling the start of the match.

"Beedrill use focus energy" it stood clenched its muscles as a yellow aura surrounded it briefly before fading. "Now use fury attack" it charged forward both arms ready to attack.

"Dodge it" the girl yelled already seeming to be panicking, her Sandshrew obeyed moving from side to side to avoid damage.

"Slow it down with string shot" Beedrill shot out a thick string from its mouth at Sandshrew's legs wrapping them and causing it to fall. "Now fury attack again" Ash yelled watching as the bee Pokémon then hit its mark hitting the ground type repeatedly as it was unable to defend.

"Sandshrew go into a ball then use rapid spin" it curled up into a perfect ball and began spinning rapidly hitting Beedrill and sending it back. Ash just smirked.

"Now Beedrill, more string shot" the thick string instantly encased the Pokémon leaving it completely immobile, "now finish this with twineedle" the stingers on Beedrill's arms glowed a bright white as they hit Sandshrew breaking its binding and smashing it down. After it pulled away Sandshrew was left with swirls in its eyes having been defeated.

"Sandshrew is unable to battle, the match goes to Beedrill and Ash of pallet town" the referee called pointing at Ash with his flag, a roar of applause came from the audience suddenly reminding Ash of their presence.

The rest of the battles weren't difficult and Ash soon made it to the final round where he found out his opponent was called Chris. He was a tall blond boy with short hair and blues eyes. He was looking at with a smug grin on his features. It had already been decided that he had the first move and he seemed very pleased by this.

"Wartortle your up" yelled throwing his ball; Ash felt a ball on his waist shake. He looked down only for a burst of light to appear before Charmeleon-who had refused to battle any opponent so far-forced his way out and appeared on the battle field.

"So you want to battle huh Charmeleon" he nodded giving a 'char' "Great, I'm sure you can do this"

"Hah, choosing to be at a type disadvantage. All day I've been hearing that I should be taking this tournament seriously but if you're the best it has to offer it's clearly a lie" the other trainer said chuckling when Charmeleon's tail flared in anger.

"This final match battle is between Ash's Charmeleon and Chris's Wartortle" the referee called loudly gesturing to the two Pokémon "Begin" he dropped the flags signalling them to start.

"This should be easy, Wartortle use water gun" he ordered pointing at Charmeleon.

"Dodge it" Charmeleon did so with ease charging forward he whole time "Metal claw" by the time Ash said this he had already began preparing the attack meaning that he was ready to thrust it into Wartortle's chest straight away.

"Iron defence" the other trainer commanded smirking when his Pokémon withdrew into its shell and shined before the metal claw attack bounced of harmlessly. "Now come out and hit him with aqua tail" his defence abandoned Wartortle instantly complied jumping up into the air and hitting Charmeleon with his tail.

"Charmeleon, fire fang" the inside of Charmeleon's mouth erupted in flames as he bit down on Wartortle's tail hard.

"Wartortle!" it tried to flail out of it but it Charmeleon held on tight refusing to let go.

"Wartortle use skull bash" the turtle Pokémon winced in pain as it turned despite its tail being caught ramming its head into Charmeleon's chest. This did succeed though and he was freed, dropping roughly on his head while Charmeleon staggered back.

"Charmeleon smokescreen" it shot the powerful fire based attack at its opponent not bothering with smokescreen, what was Ash's obsession with a non-damaging move.

"Protect" a large blue semi-transparent shield formed around Wartortle absorbing all the damage. Charmeleon frowned; there was no way Ash knew that was going to happen! "Now skull bash"

"Dodge it Charmeleon" Charmeleon was about to catch the attack but then he thought back to the last time he had ignored his assistants advice about dodging, it didn't go well, so he dodged out the way-only just making it- and smirking as Wartortle was left completely exposed allowing him to shoot another flamethrower while he was unable to defend himself.

"Wartortle no!" Chris yelled as his Wartortle fell to the ground heavily injured from Charmeleon's attack. Charmeleon went into a battle ready stance when he tried to stand only to drop it when he collapsed swirls in his eyes.

"Wartortle is unable to battle, the round is Ash and Charmeleon" the referee said pointing to Ash with his flag. Ash jumped for joy running out towards Charmeleon only to stop a foot away, he had to really fight hard to not hug him.

Instead he petted the Pokémon on its horn "You were great Charmeleon, we definitely worked much better together than at the gym" Ash said noticing that-while he tried to hide it-Charmeleon was enjoying having his horn stroked.

"Char…Charmeleon (Yes… you were helpful as well assistant)" Charmeleon said pleased as he was petted.

"For my next Pokémon I'll use Jynx" he threw his ball revealing a bipedal, humanoid Pokémon that resembles a bulky woman.

Charmeleon turned and walked of the field "Char (Boring)" and sat watching waiting to be returned to his ball.

"You want to rest in your ball?" Charmeleon nodded "Ok Charmeleon return, you were great buddy" he then grabbed his next Pokémon "Krabby I chose you"

Chris looked at his Pokémon for a second, looking thoughtful before "Ha-ha-ha-ha another pathetic Pokémon, this'll be too easy"

"You're pretty smug considering you've already lost a Pokémon" Ash pointed out smirking as his crab Pokémon's mouth bubbled.

"Wartortle was defeated…but that was just because I underestimated you, you don't even stand a chance against Jynx" he said confidently his Pokémon nodding.

"The battle begins" the referee lowered his flags signalling the beginning of the match. Up till now Ash hadn't used Krabby so the small crab Pokémon was eager to please.

"Krabby bubble" Ash commanded watching as the small bubbles shot from his crab Pokémon's mouth towards Jynx.

"Use powder snow to counter" Jynx blew cold air from its mouth freezing the bubbles causing them to fall uselessly. "Now follow up with ice punch"

"Harder" Krabby gained a slight shin as the hard icy fist connected allowing his to take it "Now vice grip" it reached forward with a claw grabbing Jynx's hand tightly.

"Jynx-Jynx-Jynx" it began flailing around wildly shaking its hand to try and dislodge the Pokémon.

"Grrrr, Jynx use perish song" the desperate trainer called, Jynx then started opened its mouth powerful red waves coming out and hitting Krabby covering it in a strange red light, the red light then surrounded Jynx as well. "Hah, in less than a minute both our Pokémon will be unable to battle"

Ash frowned "One minute huh…guess I'll just have to beat you in thirty seconds, Krabby stomp" the crab Pokémon nodded reaching forward and kicking Jynx in the face knocking it back.

"Jynx is unable to battle, the winner of the round is Krabby" the referee announced gesturing to the Pokémon.

"Great work Krabby, now return" he knew it would be effected by perish song soon so keeping it out wouldn't be smart.

"Grrrr, that's it Machop go" he tried to sound confident, but he wasn't. Machop really wasn't that strong, no way would it finish of the rest of Ash's Pokémon. Again he felt a shaking on his belt before a Pokémon was released.

"Clefairy" his pinkest Pokémon said as it appeared ready to battle.

"Really, a type advantage again. You're stupider that you look" the blond boy mocked his earlier arrogance returning.

"Well I've beaten two of your Pokémon without you beating even one of mine…" he trailed off letting that sink in.

"The final battle begins" the referee called.

"Machop focus energy" it stood in a stance a faint red aura surrounding it.

"Clefairy use encore" Clefairy nodded a white ball forming in its hands before it launched forward hitting Machop leaving him glowing with a white aura. "Now pound" the Pokémon began racing forward to attack.

"Counter with karate chop" Machop went into a stance the faint red aura returning as it got punched in the face by Clefairy knocking it to the ground "Hey, don't ignore me!"

"Now Clefairy use double slap"

"Try seismic toss" Machop once again went into a stance glowing red as it focused its energy before being slapped side to side by Clefairy "Stop ignoring me! I'm your master dammit"

"You do realise that when using encore he can't do anything but focus energy" Ash yelled out feeling sorry for the other trainer.

"Of course I knew that you idiot" he did not.

"Great, then try to stop Clefairy's metronome" Clefairy began wiggling its finger glowing white as it summoned a random attack.

"Machop, do something!" Christ ordered poorly unable to think of anything else to say, Machop went into a stance glowing red as it focused its energy "Not that!" he felt like he was going to cry from sheer frustration.

"Clefairy" Clefairy said proudly as an attack manifested in front of it, a strange rainbow coloured attack that headed straight for Machop hitting it head on and knocking it back. Once it hit the ground its eyes had already been replaced by swirls.

"Clefairy is the winner, the round and the tournament victory goes to Ash and his Pokémon" Ash smiled leaning down to catch the happy Clefairy who jumped into his hands before congratulating it. An old fat man in a white suit with grey haired approached the duo.

"It was an excellent battle, using Charmeleon here was very surprising" he said handing Ash a trophy and the money. "Here is your prize for winning the St Anne Pokémon tournament" he smiled as Ash took it grabbing his arm and holding it up for all to see. 'Stupid bastard, entering into this tournament you tired out all your Pokémon' he chuckled as the crowd started applauding a huge smile on his face; he was really happy right now.

Later on after dropping of Charmeleon at the Pokémon centre and picking up his other Pokémon Ash left to meet Brock and Misty in the halls; he jumped around like a happy child. "Did you see it? Me and Charmeleon worked together!" he cheered throwing his arm in the air dramatically.

"Yeah, it wasn't perfect but it was definitely progress" Brock said smiling proudly, he was glad they were synching so well.

Ash turned to Misty still smiling and smiled wider when she looked just as happy "I'll take my money now" she said holding her hand out with a 'hurry up' look appearing on her features. Ash nodded reluctantly handing her the money. "It was a pleasure doing business with you Ketchum" she said in a lady like voice before beginning to counter her money.

Ash's mind then returned to why he wanted the money in the first place "Be right back, I've just got to deal with some urgent business" Ash said preparing to make the transaction.

Brock briefly wondered what he needed to do but brushed it off. "We'll be getting dinner ok!" he heard an 'Ok' in response from the happy boy as he and Misty-who was counting her money-turned walking towards the dining room.

Brock was then asked "So Misty, finally got Ash to pay you back for the bike huh" she stopped dead in her tracks her eyes wide as saucers.

"Dammit" she cursed turning and rushing after the boy "Why didn't I think of that?" she ran as fast as she could, quickly reaching a fork in the hallway. She checked down each side but couldn't see the bike thief anywhere.

She went left, hoping for the best she ran as fast as she could only to find herself in the now empty battle room. She swiftly turned on her heels, running even faster out the door and not even looking where she was going.

She was so busy not looking that she ran straight into something, something that collapsed as soon as she hit it. "Ash!" she didn't even need to look to know it was him but did anyway and saw the groaning boy "Give me my money"

He sat up pushing her off him "I already did like five minutes ago, d'you forget" he started picking up poke balls of the ground. "Not that money, I want the rest" he turned and looked at her, shaking his head slowly. "You owe me for my bike; a thousand dollars would have covered the cost"

He frowned at her "Uh Misty, I already spent it…but you can have what I brought" he had planned on releasing the Magikarp once he got them but he knew Misty would take good care of them.

She eyed him suspiciously "What did you buy?" he picked thrust his hand out showing her all he balls he had dropped.

"These" she frowned; looking only eleven poke balls she knew he had been ripped off.

"You spent a thousand dollars on ten poke balls" she seethed, he could have paid her back but no, he had to be an idiot instead.

"It's not the poke balls silly, it's what inside them" she gave him a look that said to continue "You see, I found these Pokémon all really cramped and sad looking so I thought that I should buy and release them" her glare softened slightly but she held strong. She would not accept anything stupid.

Finally she asked "So what type are they?" she hoped it was water Pokémon, she wouldn't need that many but she could send the extras home to the gym.

"There's ten Magikarp" she collapsed hearing this; he did not just say that.

"Please tell me you're joking" he shook his head his smile faltering "You spent one thousand pounds on ten Magikarp"

He frowned "They just looked so sad…" she sighed, she knew he was trying to do the right thing but.

"Ash, there's loads of Pokémon that are being kept in poor conditions to be sold. You can't free them all" he frowned, she had a point there.

"Well it doesn't matter, I'll free as many as I can" he said determined walking towards the deck "You want to come with me to release them?" she nodded following after him. They got to the deck quickly and threw out the Pokémon. "So… uh, how do I release them?" he had never really thought he would release Pokémon so hadn't looked into it.

Misty sighed "There should be a button on the poke ball somewhere" she took it and started looking, but couldn't find it. In truth she had never released a Pokémon either.

"**Magikarp**" all the Magikarp screamed at once, the two teenagers turned to see them being scooped by a net held by the Magikarp salesman.

"What the hell are you doing?" Ash yelled making the crafty man jump.

"Heh, well…once you release a Pokémon anyone can catch it" He said still not freeing the fish Pokémon.

"But I brought them so that I could release them" Ash said clenching his fists; first this guy mistreats the Magikarp now he tries to regain them so he can do it all over again.

"Yes, and now that they've been released it's my legal right to capture them" He said smugly reaching behind them for the balls.

"Magikarp return" Misty yelled taking all the Pokémon back into their balls "We haven't released them actually, so what you were trying to do is called stealing" she put her hands on her hips angrily "You want us to get Officer Jenny on you"

The man visibly panicked grabbing his oar and starting to rapidly paddle away "No need for that I'm on my way" he stopped a short distance from the boat "Just remember, as soon as you release them I'll be there to collect them" and with that he started paddling once more until he disappeared in the horizon.

"Um…shouldn't he be coming back on the boat?" Ash said slightly worried for the strange man.

Misty also thought this was strange but didn't really know where they were, he would probably be fine. "Anyway…I don't think we should release them at least not now…so I'll send them to my sisters at the gym after all" she said Ash nodded.

He hoped they would be happy at the gym, they wouldn't be expected to battle so that would be good. There was lots of room and other Pokémon for them to play with, it sounded great really. After this they went to the transfer room.

"I'll send them now" she put them into the machine and began processing them.

Ash nodded, then smiled "So I guess we're even on the while bike thing" he couldn't stop it, it just came out.

She frowned glaring at the boy "You really think that this makes us even, I took the Magikarp as a favour to you"

"A favour, those Magikarp cost a thousand dollars, that's more than you bike cost" He yelled pointing at the poke balls indignantly.

"Ash there Magikarp, and I'm not even going to keep them my sisters are. This does not make us even" she seethed, was he seriously trying to pay for her bike in Magikarp?

"Then you can't have them" apparently he was "I'll send them to the professor instead" she could tell he thought this would be much more effective a threat then it was. She turned and changed the programming on the machine.

"There you go, send them to the professor and you owe me a bike. Or send them to my sisters…and you still owe me a bike" Ash frowned as he put them into the machine activating it and sending he Pokémon to the professor. "I sent them to the professor" he watched as they teleported in flashes of light one after the other.

"Whatever, lets of go get dinner" he nodded and the two went to eat. Ash was pleased when Misty didn't bring up her bike, instead asking about the Magikarp and if Ash thought the professor would be able to care for them right.

"I'm sure he'll be great, he's a Pokémon expert. He may even want to study them or something" Ash shrugged, "The laboratory has huge ponds and lakes too, they'll be very happy there" Misty nodded glad that they would be happy, if Ash had sent them somewhere without a body of water she would have demanded he send them back so she could take them to her sisters.

"You should call the professor later, we can't now because the lines are down but he'll probably want to know why you got ten Magikarp" Ash nodded as they entered the dining room. They weren't surprised to see Brock already surrounded by food, but Ash was upset he didn't get them any.

"Ah, the last of our guests have arrived" a man noted as they walked in promptly closing and locking the doors behind the duo. After this every other door was slammed shut by other members of staff. Next the lights all went out leaving them in total darkness.

All around them men and women ripped off there cloths; fortunately they were simply doing this to reveal more cloths underneath. Unfortunately these cloths were Team Rocket outfits. Everyone was silent as the man who had organised this, the fat grey haired man walked out from the top.

He approached a microphone and began speaking "Attention everybody, as you may be aware these men are Team Rocket. As you may not be aware so am I, we'll be stealing your Pokémon now" he gave a gesture to the men and they all appeared strange suction devices on their backs pulling at peoples poke balls and soon gathering them.

The crowd flew into a panic madly grabbing there balls and trying to protect them, Ash looked around at Team Rocket and soon noticed "We outnumber them massively" they really did; there was hundreds of non-members to a couple dozen of them "We should fight!"

The crowd roared in agreement throwing out there Pokémon, and beginning to send out orders. "Beedrill I choose you" Ash threw his poke ball only to reveal a tired looking bee Pokémon "Beedrill I know your tired but this is important, we have to fight the Team Rocket so they can't steal these Pokémon" Beedrill nodded turning to find the men with the suction devices now throwing out various Pokémon. "Use twineedle"

The battle was long, and while it was a little confusing it was clear who was winning. Team Rocket was being easily defeated as they attempted to use weak Pokémon to take on everybody's Pokémon. The tournament had worn some of the stronger trainers Pokémon down, but since it was a series of one Pokémon battles-something they did to save time so they wouldn't run the risk of not having an opportunity to steal the Pokémon-the majority of the Pokémon weren't tired.

"Geodude-geo" Brocks Geodude cried linking arm with a group of them and spinning into Team Rocket members and there Pokémon alike knocking them down.

"Starmie, Staryu use water gun together" the attacks joined doubling in size and heading straight for a group of grunt without Pokémon. They took the full force of the attack being thrown back and effortlessly defeated.

"Zubat use supersonic to confuse them" Zubat gave a quick noise of acknowledgement before turning and releasing the powerful sound based attack on a group of grunts leaving them scrambling around confused.

"Squirtle quick dodge it" but Misty's command was too late as the Raticate belonging to Team Rocket hit Squirtle with super fang head on doing severe damage "Squirtle return, you were great. Just rest for now" she said before turning back to the battle with the many grunts.

Ash wasn't interested in the grunts though; he knew that he grey haired man was a leader of some kind so he wanted him instead.

Ash walked up the stairs, searching for the fat grey haired man who had informed them he was a member of Team Rocket. "Now there boy, I'm sure you're awfully confused about why I said I was part of Team Rocket, the reason is…ah fuck it! Abra go" he threw the small psychic type at grabbing a hold of him.

"Paras use spore before-" they teleported away "Never mind" Ash turned and saw that all the other Team Rocket members had been subdued. "Wow, after the last time I fought Team Rocket I was expecting…more"

**Boom** the large blasting sound resounded throughout the whole ship as it lurched from side to side. Ash sighed; this was what he got for questioning them. He could have just been happy but no, he had to think there was more and was right.

"Ash one of the grunts set of a bomb, the ships going to sink" Misty cried running up the stairs frantically before grabbing Ash and turning to get to the deck "Hurry up we have to get to the life boats" he nodded running until they reached the deck.

"Good, it looks like everyone else got off ok too" Ash said watching as the second to last life boat went down full of people. Ash's eyes went wide when realisation hit him "Where Nurse Joy and the Pokémon from the centre?" he ran to the edge looking over the side for any sign of pink.

"She must be trapped" Brock said also looking "If there was a Nurse Joy down there I would know it"

Ash nodded at the strange statement "We have to go find her" they turned running back in the direction of the centre. They ran as fast as they could, they ignored the rocking of the ship too focused on saving the stranded nurse to notice. They passed room by room, ignoring them all looking for Nurse Joy.

Finally they found the door to the Pokémon centre, but it was impossible to get though it due to the flames. "Huh, I thought we were sinking not one fire"

Brock looked at it for a second before he was hit by realisation "This must be near where the bomb went off, it probably started the fire" they all looked at it nervously "Geodude go" he threw his poke ball "Geodude is a rock type so the flames won't bother him too much. Geodude, go find Nurse Joy and the Pokémon"

The rock Pokémon flew off with a grunt of 'Geo' going to help. They waited and watched, fortunately he was quick and soon returned with an unconscious Nurse Joy over his shoulder and a small bag full of poke balls in the other.

"Is that everything Geodude?" Geodude nodded "Then I'll take Nurse Joy" Brock said blushing slightly as he took her and carried her bridal style "We've got to hurry; this ship could sink any minute"

Unfortunately Brock soon proved right as the ship groaned the whole thing flipping up hitting them all into the ceiling hard. Ash was the first to recover "Is everyone ok?"

Misty groaned trying to sit up "Yeah, I think so at least"

"We need to hurry, the boats capsized so we can't waste any time!" Brock said standing again still holding the unconscious nurse. Geodude floating besides him with the bag of poke balls.

"We should stay calm, as long as there's air trapped in here it'll take time to fill with water" Misty said standing confidently. "Anyway, we can go up or down"

Ash nodded thinking "So since we're upside down that means we have to go down to get to the deck" they nodded running around and quickly finding the stairs, unfortunately the stairs were flooded with water.

"We could dive, but if we come across a dead end we'll be done for" Brock said looking at the water morosely.

"I got this, after all water is my specialty" Misty boosted holding out a poke ball "Goldeen go" she threw the ball revealing the fish Pokémon "Goldeen go down to the deck, if you find a way back bring something from outside"

"Goldeen" its high pitch voice said before it dived swimming down to explore the ship. It swam quickly, ignoring the luggage and furniture surrounding it as it looked for an exit, but when it finally reached the end of a hallway it found it blocked by a sofa and some items.

It then felt something grab is tail and turned around in a panic "Goldeen!" it was Team Rocket, currently blue and barley conscious as hey floated helplessly in the water.

Ash, Misty and Brock had been waiting a while now and it was getting a little worrying. Even if Goldeen did find a way out if it would take this long it wouldn't be any good. But finally something surfaced. Only it wasn't Goldeen, it was James from Team Rocket; he was completely blue and looked exhausted.

They screamed in fright, not wanting to see a dead person even if he was a member of Team Rocket before with a big push Goldeen pushed out Jessie and Meowth as well. Fortunately they were alive shown by them promptly turning over and vomiting up some water.

"Hey it's the twerps" they jumped up new life flowing through them "We have you cornered now, nowhere to run" they said throwing forward their poke balls to reveal Koffing and Ekans.

Ash looked at them incredulously "You want to try and steal our Pokémon-one of which just save you-when we're on a still sinking ship" he surmised looking at them.

They exchanged glances before with a grunt of fine they returned their Pokémon "We'll work together then, temporarily" they put out their hands for a shake.

Jessie and Ash as de facto leaders shook casually and Brock and James shook. They were both trying to squeeze the other ones hand to cause him pain, and James was winning. Brock clenched his teeth murder in his eyes as the flamboyant man crushed his hand. "It's agreed we work together, so now we just need to escape"

Misty looked up smugly "Leave it to me, I forgot to mention I built once" this caused everyone to gasp in shock "It was a model" this caused everyone to sigh on disappointment, she was being smug because he built a toy ship "That's how I learnt all about the structure of the St Anne, since the way to the deck is blocked we'll have to climb to the bottom of the ship. We can cut a hole in the hull, that's how we'll escape!"

They paused thinking "Well I guess we don't exactly have any better options" Ash reluctantly admitted.

Brock looked up and saw a staircase, only problem was that it was on the floor when they were on the ceiling. This made it difficult to think of a way to use it. "Hm, Geodude, Starmie and Staryu should be able to carry people. So should Fearow" Brock said looking to Geodude "Will you help us out?" it nodded grabbing him as he carried Nurse Joy and taking them both though the hole in the floor.

Ash and Misty released their Pokémon too "Ok, Fearow I need you to carry me up those stairs" Ash pointed and was instantly grabbed in Fearow's claws before being roughly carried up then dropped "Thanks…maybe next time a little more gentle though, also can you get Team Rocket" Misty was already casually floating up on Starmie so didn't need help.

Fearow swooped down and began savagely attacking the trio "No Fearow I didn't mean get them as in attack, they need to be carried too"

"Fearow (I know)" Fearow responded grabbing the whole lot-Meowth holding onto James's leg and taking them up to.

"Great work, return" they then continued walking, trying to navigate the halls by memory since it was so dark that no one could see. Then Ash realised something "Charmeleon come on out" The fire lizard appeared quickly shooting a torrent of flames at Team Rocket "No, we're not fighting right now, I just need you to walk with use so your tail flame will light the way"

Charmeleon nodded not really caring as it walked alongside them. "What are you still doing here?" they froze at the sound of the old voice "The ships sunk, you should all be off by now"

They turned to see the man; he was wearing a sailor's suit and looked very old with thinning bald hair. "You should be off as well"

The man shook his head "I'm the captain; I should go down with my ship!" Ash frowned at this; it was the dumbest thing he had ever heard "You shouldn't be here though"

"We're trying to escape, would you help us?" he nodded taking the lead.

"Based on your being here I assume you plan to cut a hole in the hull and escape though it" they nodded "Alright then, I'll take you to the engine room, it's the thinnest there" he walked briskly making it hard to keep up and they soon reached the room.

There was only one problem. The ceiling-which acted as a floor-was on fire and the stairs across we're broken. Before anyone could speak the captain raised a hand silencing them all "Venusaur carry us across" the large Pokémon appeared on the opposite platform shooting out eight thick vines to carry everyone across. Meowth and Charmeleon had to share one, but Charmeleon decided on to scorch him for invading his personal space since it would hurt Venusaur. He could always do it later after all.

The vines were surprisingly stable, not letting them get near the flames so they didn't have to panic at all. Ash might have even enjoyed it if he wasn't dangling above fire. When they were across the captain remained in control. "Have that Charmeleon of yours cut a hole in the ceiling with fire, and then return it quick if you want it to live"

Ash nodded and turned "Charmeleon, this is important. We need this hole if we're going to escape" Charmeleon nodded, he knew Ash was right and wanted to escape just as badly as anyone else. The bottom of the sea was no place for a fire Pokémon.

He started to cut through the ceiling with flamethrower, quickly forming a square that fell though unleashing a torrent of water. He was glad when Ash returned him to his poke ball since it meant he didn't have to deal with it.

"Let it fill the room for a bit, that way you won't have to fight the current. If you have water Pokémon now's the time for them" Misty nodded throwing out all her Pokémon who appeared ready to swim. The captain returned his Venusaur.

"Don't you have any?" Ash asked although he had a feeling he knew what the captain would say.

"I'm going down with my ship" he then turned and started walking.

"Sorry" Ash said and before the captain could respond Ash had hit him with a hard metal bar knocking him out "But I'm not going to let you die just because you're an idiot"

"Huh…didn't think the twerp had it in him" Jessie whispered to James watching as Ash secured a rope around the unconscious man connecting him to Goldeen.

"Yeah, it's certainly was bold. Although I'm just glad he didn't expect us to do it" they nodded before they noticed something. Misty was using Staryu, Brock was using Starmie and Nurse Joy was being tied to Squirtle.

Misty and Brock didn't comment on what Ash did, the situation was tense enough without them arguing and with the water now up their chests it wasn't a good idea. "Krabby, Magikarp I choose you" Ash said throwing out the two water types and quickly tying them to himself.

"Do you think they'll be strong enough Ash?" Ash looked at them, one was a small crab the other a fish.

"Well the others aren't strong enough for two so… there's only one way to find out" they continued to wait the water now up to Ash's neck "We have to float for a bit" they all nodded swimming higher and higher.

"Um what are we supposed to do?" a very timid blue haired man asked suddenly panicking due to the lack of water types.

"Grab a water type, no more time we have to go" they all took deep breaths as the water stopped entering the room so forcefully and they tried to swim out. Misty was first, then Brock and the unconscious members of their group that we're tied to him and finally Ash.

Ash quickly found he wasn't going fast enough, even when he added in his swimming as hard as he could Magikarp and Krabby simply didn't have enough power. He was going to drown before they made it.

He was glad that the others seemed to be doing fine, the stronger water Pokémon making good pace. Then he saw something, a strange white light coming off Magikarp. Magikarp was trying to evolve, he could see the strain. The raw effort it was taking as Magikarp continued pushing himself to achieve his most powerful form.

His shape stared changing; Ash could feel it all as they were tied together. A powerful tail formed and his head taking shape as he grew bigger and bigger until finally he was strong enough, not only strong enough to get Ash out in time, but strong enough to grab the others helping them to the surface as well.

It had finally happened, Magikarp had evolved.

A/N

I felt now was a good time, I had actually toyed with the idea of leaving it even later but this seemed reasonable. If Magikarp continued being Magikarp forever it would have been really pointless

Please review, I especially want to hear your thoughts on Charmeleon on Charmeleon being semi-obedient.

I think it's reasonable since Ash saved Charmeleon and all it took to tame Charizard was to remind him Ash had save him but then I toned it back to the 'assistant' thing. He doesn't really respect Ash all that much but is willing to work with him since he enjoys battling so much.

Also, I could kill of Team Rocket now so review if you want them to live or not.

Please review


	14. Bye-Bye Butterfree

A/N

I recently discovered that what I thought was well established breaks by leaving spaces were being deleted at some point before they got posted leaving no break so from now on this: Pokémon-Pokémon-Pokémon means a skip in time

**The actual chapter begins here**

Ash, Misty, Brock and the two unconscious members of their group now were on the former Magikarp's back. Brock was checking on the other two quickly, making sure they were ok before they did anything else.

"It seems like they'll be fine, the body has a natural mechanism so that reacts to the cold water. Even though they were unconscious they should be fine" he reassured but he checked on them anyway "Yep, they'll be fine" Ash nodded seriously, but that soon dissolved as Gyarados's head appeared near him.

Ash was now looking at Gyarados, he had a black upper side, like when he was a Magikarp it was so black it had the effect of sucking in light-Ash couldn't see the underside properly but it looked to the usual tan colour, maybe must a little darker. Its crest was a deep red and the fins were also red although less extreme, almost being pink but still very impressive.

He started petting him laughing happily "You evolved to save me Gyarados" it roared in approval Misty trying to move away, something that was very difficult when the only solid around was Gyarados itself. "Misty what are you doing?"

She chuckled nervously still squirming and even considering jumping in the cold water to put some distance between them "It's nothing really, I just have a little problem with Gyarados is all"

Ash frowned at her not satisfied at all with what she just said. "How can you have a problem with Gyarados? It's a water Pokémon, you should love it" he said still petting the head of the happy Pokémon.

"I just do ok!" she moved about some more still having nowhere to go, she especially didn't like being near its head.

"Misty if you're worried about it losing control you don't have to be, from what I've heard most trainer raised Magikarp are able to maintain perfect control after evolution unless they were poorly trained or under lots of stress" she nodded but Brocks words really weren't all that reassuring to her.

"Hey, don't you think Team Rocket should have surfaced by now?" Brock said looking about and still not seeing them anywhere.

"Maybe they didn't make it" there was a heavy silence in the air, the idea of someone dying not appealing to any of them.

"Whatever happened to them, us sitting here won't help them; we need to get ourselves to land if we want to survive" everyone nodded knowing that Team Rocket weren't the type to be stopped easily, they didn't know how but they would survive. "Gyarados, find land" Gyarados roared and with a nod set off in search of someplace to drop of its many passengers.

Just as they were disappearing on the horizon three irate Team Rocket members rose out of the water wearing oxygen masks connected to tanks. "Great, first they leave us to die them they abandon use when we escape" James said sad at the prospect of being stuck here any longer.

"Oh shut up"

"Guys" Meowth interrupted only to be completely ignored.

"But seriously what are we going to do?"

"Guys"

"We'll figure something out; we are Team Rocket after all"

"Guys!"

"What?" they both yelled turning on the furriest member of their group.

"G-Gyarados" they all turned to see that there were in fact several blue sea serpents that looked really angry.

Pokémon –Pokémon-Pokémon

By the end of the journey both the formally unconscious passengers regained consciousness and were highly confused. Right now, as they approached wha they hoped was a habitable island Ash, Misty and Brock were trying to explain everything.

"So, you say those two from Team Rocket attacked me from behind?" the captain Nurse Joy inspecting his head and checking for any signs of further injury.

Ash nodded a completely serious look on his face "Yeah, there only low down members that we deal with all the time, I'm quite surprised they would attack you like that really"

The old man sighed "You shouldn't have saved me, for a captain it's their duty to go with their ship."

Ash frowned "Sorry for saving you" the man just nodded still looking upset.

"Oh come on, your alive and healthy isn't that all that matters. I'm certainly grateful that they saved us" Nurse Joy said from behind him. He just folded his arms looking stoic, apparently a simple thank you was asking for too much.

Gyarados let out a roar to let them know that they had reached the beach of the island; unfortunately this was perceived as an angry roar by most the occupants of the islands scaring them off. "So…need any help getting somewhere specific?" Brock asked praying that Nurse Joy would need some form of help.

"No, we should be fine. You enjoy yourselves, we just need to report where we are so there no need to trouble yourselves" she said smiling as she and the still silence captain climbed of the Gyarados.

"Really it's no trouble" Brock said blushing wilding as his imagination ran wild.

"We'll be fine, good bye" she turned walking off the captain in tow.

"Well we're on the beach, so we might as well have a little fun"

Pokémon-Pokémon-Pokémon

It turns out they were at Maidens Peak, a small village with little to do. They were just wondering around looking for something to do when Ash and Brock saw something that Misty didn't. A beautiful girl, she had long flowing purple hair a red head band and wore a simple white dress. She was looking off the coast looking sad.

"She's beautiful" Brock said dreamily, Ash just sighed. Apparently Brock was in love, again! "Don't you think so Ash?" Ash just shrugged, she was beautiful in a way but he didn't have the same feelings that Brock obviously did. "How can you not think she is the most beautiful thing in the world?" he turned away from his staring at her to yell at Ash.

Ash just shrugged again "There's an even more beautiful girl I see every day" Misty blushed at this, clearly Ash was talking about her, she hadn't expected this but she supposed it was ok that Ash had fallen for her, really it was surprising it didn't happen sooner.

Brock was also too shocked to react and so neither one noticed him getting out his wallet and extracting a picture. "Her names Daisy Oak, she Gary's sister" Brock grabbed the photo looking at the girl critically and Misty hit Ash on the arm "Hey, what was that for?" was there something wrong with him keeping the photo of a pretty girl, he never saw anyone prettier so why not?

"Um…" Why did she hit him on the arm? Did she want Ash to be talking about her? Fortunately Brock saved her.

"While this girl is definitely attractive she could never compare to her!" he pointed dramatically turning to where the girl had been only to find her absent. "Ah, she gone we were supposed to meet and get married" he sulked collapsing to the ground.

"Oh Brock get over it, let's go to the festival" the pair picked him up one arm each and literally dragged him into the festival.

Pokémon-Pokémon-Pokémon

At the festival Ash and Misty were having a great time, Ash stuffing his face with every kind of sweet he could find and Misty, being the much more mature, simply joined Ash in eating the sweets even though she didn't really want them.

Brock couldn't enjoy it though. He was still thinking about the purple haired woman, she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen and now she was gone and he had no way of finding her. "Hey you there" he turned smiling brightly expecting to see his future wife.

He didn't see her though, what he saw was actually quite the opposite. It was a short old lady with a cane and only two teeth remaining "Ah, you're not that beautiful" he recoiled so far he fell leaving him at her height.

"Who's not beautiful?" she moved with shocking speed and getting a magnifying glass and looking at Brock's face with it. "Beware, not of an old woman like me but of a beautiful young woman, she carries a cruel fate for you"

Hearing this Misty instantly knew what this was about, her of course! "I must be the beautiful girl, but I would never hurt Brock"

"I was talking about an elegant young woman not some scrawny little blabber mouth like you" Ash barley knew this old lady, but he now knew he was going to like her.

"Scrawny, Grrrr… I'm not just going to stand here and be insulted, let's get outta here" she grabbed Brock by the shirt and grabbing Ash's hand as she stormed off. Brock didn't care though; he was still blabbering about the beautiful woman.

Pokémon-Pokémon-Pokémon

They were now at the shrine of the maiden's greatest treasure. An old man who was a village elder of some kind was telling them the story of the town's namesake.

"For two thousand years this painting has hung within the shrine of the maiden. Once each year it is removed from the shrine and displayed to the public during this festival" he pulled back a sheet revealing the painting of the beautiful woman.

The painting was beautiful, all in black and white but clearly showing a very beautiful woman waiting. A very familiar beautiful woman "Hey she the woman me and Brock saw" Ash said nudging the older man and only be a little surprised to find him to zoned out to respond. Really who could blame him? This was weird.

Brock, and surprisingly James began pacing forward trying to get a closer look at the painting "Stay back, the woman in this painting perished over two thousand years ago. She was in love with a brave and handsome young man, but he left her to sail away and fight in a war. She told him that she would wait forever, and she did wait for a very long time hoping to see his ship on the horizon. But her true love never returned to that place again, still she waited and waited never moving from that spot until finally her body turned to stone, just like the cliff upon which she stood. To this day she waits for her love to return"

"All I need to know is where this rock is!"

Pokémon-Pokémon-Pokémon

Brock forced them to go to the rock after this; actually he seemed not to care if they came really. Ash was pretty sure they could both jump of a cliff and he would be too obsessed with her to even notice.

Now he stood staring at the pretty girl shaped rock, muttering about how beautiful it was. "It's the most beautiful rock I've ever seen" that was saying something after all, he was from Pewter City and was a rock type specialist so he had seen several beautiful rocks in his time.

Pokémon-Pokémon-Pokémon

It had now been hours, literally hours. Brock was still staring and Ash and Misty were still bored as hell. Ash was beginning to wonder what Brock was thinking, would he try to marry the rock? Or would he simply settle for taking it steady, either way it was insane.

"Let's go back to the festival, this is boring" Misty whined standing up from her seated position Ash following.

"You to go back, I'll wait here a little longer" he spoke quietly, as if trying to avoid waking the statue.

"We're staying at the Pokémon centre by the port, be back by curfew" Ash turned to leave but hesitated "Brock, I know she beautiful but…wouldn't you rather a girl with, you know…a pulse" Brock didn't respond, he just kept staring at the fake woman.

Pokémon-Pokémon-Pokémon

Brock wasn't back still, the clock had just gone off announcing curfew time yet he was still out. They had left to wait for him in the lobby but he still wasn't here. "I'm getting worried; Brock should be back by now"

Ash frowned; he just knew Brock was still staring at that statue "I'll go look for him"

Unfortunately he was stopped by an angry Nurse Joy "Don't you realise it's your bed time, go to bed this instant. Staying up late is bad for your skin, makes your irritable and ruins your appetite and I won't allow it, so get to bed this instant"

Ash just frowned; he supposed Brock would be fine for one night. They camped out all the time after all, but he still wasn't happy about it.

Pokémon-Pokémon-Pokémon

The next morning Brock still hadn't returned, Ash wasn't very worried by this either. But that changed when they reached the statue and found Brock absent, and he began to get really worried when they couldn't find Brock no matter how much they searched.

As he was searching he then found them, Team Rocket. "You, you have Brock don't you?"

"Prepare for trouble, and make it double" she impersonated James poorly, her voice being way too deep "Doing this alone is a real drag, to protect he world from devastation, to unite all peoples within our nation. To denounce the evils of truth and love,"

"To extend and reach to the stars above"

"Jessie"

"James" they all started looking around wilding, trying to locate the James by his voice.

"Team rocket blast of at the speed of light"

"Surrender now or prepare to fight" he appeared from with a small cabin next to them launching at the group and falling face first onto the ground.

"Ah, he looks awful" he really did, his eyes had huge black bags under them and he had this weird happy look on his face. Brock fell out shortly after looking the exact same

"Ah, Brock what happened?" the duo just made strange noises unable to think clearly.

"So everything turned out just as I predicted" They turned to see the old lady from yesterday still wearing her signature purple dress smiling at them. "Obviously these two have both seen the ghost of the maiden"

The hysterical pair began yelling about love hugging each other happily. "Ah, there possessed" Ash panicked looking as they continued to fawn over her even though she wasn't here.

"I'll fix this" Jessie stepped forward and Ash gave her some room not sure what she would do. She slapped them, hitting them again and again as hard as she could until they stopped smiling.

"Ah, stop that will you" Brock yelled shuffling away.

"I'm James of Team Rocket" she dropped James roughly.

"He's back" he bounded into the air happily screeching.

"But not to normal" Meowth had a point, which was proved by James's continued prancing about with a strange smile on his face.

"All men who pass this way fall under her spell" she began walking into the room James and Brock had just jumped out of even bothering to gesture for them to follow her since there was no way they wouldn't "It's always the same story, we find them here babbling like idiots the life sucked out of them. It's the work of that maiden's ghost, still waiting for her young solider to return! It's just as I warned you"

"So what? Who cares as long as I can be with her?" Brock asked returning to his dream, like state. Ash waved a hand in front of his face but got no reaction.

"I'm scared you got to help me" James yelled hysterically fighting back tears.

The old woman looked at them both completely seriously "There is only one thing we can do" she raised up some pieces of paper with writing on them "These are o-fuda these should repel her" the old woman explained slapping them onto Brock and James and then the rest of the room.

"However" they turned to see her next to a cash register "I can't just give these away for free you know"

Ash face palmed "Oh well, if it's the only thing that'll help"

"We'll stick them all over the place" Misty finished for him also sticking them up outside.

Pokémon-Pokémon-Pokémon

By nightfall they had plastered the entire room with the o-fuda, they had spent most there money on it so they really hoped it would work. At first it seemed like they were effective, the old lady's promise being true as no ghost appeared.

That is until a sudden gust appeared blowing them off the outside before getting inside and blowing them around too. "She here"

Brock stood "It's you"

"I've been waiting for you" her voice echoed around the room, a strange ghostly effect that creped James out.

"Yes and I've been waiting too" Brock responded completely ignoring James who was crying next to him.

They started floating, the ghost leaving as they were pulled out the room. "Why? Why aren't the stickers working?"

Jessie and Meowth appeared looking a little sheepish "Maybe because we got them for free"

"Free?"

"It was a two for one deal, we got one free for every set they brought" She pointed at the twerps as she explained her actions. "It was a real bargain"

James looked at them in utter horror "I can't believe that you're letting that ghost get me just because you're both so cheap"

She paused suddenly getting serious "You don't want to go" 

"Of course I don't want to go" Who wanted to be taken away by ghosts? He lost his grip being pulled outside with Brock where nobody could reach them.

**Bang **a shot fired heading straight for the maiden only to pass through her. "Hey girl, you can't take him. You haven't a got a ghost of a chance" Jessie yelled as James was released falling to the beach below.

Surprisingly the strange man was able to grab the cliff pulling himself back up "You really do care"

"It's not because of you; girls like her disgust me always waiting around for her man as if she were his faithful pet. Well I say see you later, there are plenty more fish in the sea"

"Wow, someone like you was able to get a boyfriend" Ash yelled out incredulously, the idea itself insane.

Jessie response though was cut off by the sudden appearance of ghost like figures from behind them. Ash, knowing that they must be Pokémon got out his Pokédex to see what kind "No Pokémon entry found"

Or maybe they weren't Pokémon. They flew towards them never making contact but successfully scaring them into a huddle of fear, Misty clinging to Ash for safety "Still searching" he moved it around, letting it scan more and more of the ghosts until it finally landed on the maiden "Pokémon entry found. Gastly, a Ghost Pokémon. It is usually invisible. Its specialty is Hypnosis."

"So you finally figured it out…sometimes I'm the ghost of the two thousand year old maiden, and sometimes I'm the mysterious old woman" she shape shifted her voice changing as she became the old woman who had 'helped' them "But no matter the disguise I'll always be" she shape shifted moving to where the other ghosts were fading them out "Awfully Gastly"

Ash just smiled "Well, if you're a Pokémon that means I can battle you. Gyarados go" he threw the ball the large sea serpent appearing with a mighty roar.

"My hypnotic powers can work on other Pokémon too, I can even look like their trainers" Ash didn't have to wait long for this to be explained as it changed to look exactly like him "Gyarados, look it's those Team Rocket losers let's make them blast off"

Gyarados nodded turning towards them and charging an orb in his mouth "No Gyarados we're working with them this time" he paused hesitating as his other master spoke.

"Gyarados, Team Rocket is evil we would never work with them" the poor sea serpent looked between the two before coming to a conclusion. It turned unleashing the powerful dragon rage attack on Team Rocket blasting them off.

"Team Rockets blasting off for no reason" They called as they disappeared on the horizon.

"…Eh" Ash said not really all that bother that is until.

"Now Gyarados, destroy the fake me. It's a Gastly" Gyarados nodded turning to Ash and preparing another attack, Ash didn't react. He just looked at Gyarados, knowing that he would see through it.

"Um, Ash…in case you haven't noticed he's trying to kill us" Misty screamed grabbing the boy and pulling but he refused to move.

"Misty, don't worry. Gyarados and I have been together a long time, he knows me and he knows I would never order him to kill a Pokémon unnecessarily" he saw his strongest Pokémon falter for a second before his eyes regained focus and he continued charging the attack.

"No Gyarados, he's dangerous. Don't let him live" the fake Ash yelled pointing dramatically.

Ash still didn't react, waiting until the attack was at its most crucial point. Misty trying to pull him away the whole time but he resisted. "Dammit Ash, if I die because of you I'll never forgive you" she yelled still pulling at him.

He looked at her blankly "If you don't trust me why don't you just leave by yourself"

She looked at him blankly "Because…you owe me a bike" even she did believe this one, but he just nodded still making eye contact with Gyarados. It was weird watching the two stare at each other, it was like they were trying to communicate without speaking.

He didn't break eye contact ever, just watching as the attack reached its full power and Gyarados got ready to fire it "Now" he spoke quietly but with heart, the command getting though Gyarados turned and released the dragon rage attack on Gastly.

"What? No my illusion was perfect!" he tried to stop it but it exploded on contact leaving him unable to battle. "This isn't possible; I spent years perfecting my illusions" Ash smiled when he said this, he was glad Gyarados didn't accidently overdo it.

Ash walked over to it calmly "You can replicate my voice, my appearance but it won't be enough. Me and Gyarados are friends, we have a bond that you could never replicate" Ash explained proudly petting the large creature when it smiled next to him.

**Dong-dong-dong **the ghost jumped up apparently not nearly as injured as it let on "Ah, sunlight I may be a Pokémon but I still hate sunlight. Don't forget the maidens ghost, she and the old hag will return next year" he didn't seem to have been effected nearly as much as Ash thought disappointing him, he really wanted to catch a Gastly.

"Wow…Ash that was amazing" Misty said without thinking, the fact they were no longer in danger all she could think about.

Ash smiled "Yeah, to be completely honest I didn't know if that would work myself. It was really just a gut feeling"

Misty stared at him horrified "You bet our lives on a 'gut feeling'" he nodded still petting Gyarados.

"Yep, I was actually really nervous after he blasted Team Rocket off. But I guess he just doesn't like them"

Pokémon-Pokémon-Pokémon

After this the festival went on, Team Rocket return-Ash had no idea how and didn't bother asking-and were now playing various instruments. Lots of people were dancing but Ash didn't join them, he hated dancing and would never do it voluntarily. Instead he was looking into ghost Pokémon, specifically Gastly.

The information was underwhelming to say the least, it just had a little bit on type advantages and disadvantages and that it evolved into Haunter then Gengar. But still it was interesting, they were incredibly rare so he knew he would have to catch one!

"Sorry I'm late" he looked up to see Misty in her pink flowery kimono, her hair was down just about reaching her shoulders and she held a small fan. Ash didn't realise but he was staring, again.

Misty did notice, and was a little surprised. He muttered something under his breath but she didn't hear. If she had heard she would have been much more embarrassed by what he said than the staring made her.

"So um…let's dance" Ash just nodded blankly letting her take his hand and lead him to the floor.

Pokémon-Pokémon-Pokémon

The three Pokémon trainers were now back on the road, heading towards Saffron City and Ash's next gym badge. After a short journey they had now arrived at a small village near a steep cliff to the ocean. It was a wonderful place; large open fields filled with Butterfree were all around them.

In fact there were lots of Butterfree. Actually it was a little weird how many there were, all dancing around each other and looking happy while people-presumably their trainers-watched from the side talking and occasionally pointing.

"The Butterfree are celebrating their season on love…according to the map…yep this town is Butterfree village. This place has a lot of breeders who specialise in Butterfree; trainers come here so that they can have their Butterfree breed with one of the breeders Butterfree. Their thought to be the best mates possible" Brock explained watching the Butterfree happily dancing with each other.

"Hey Ash, maybe you should call Professor Oak and get Metapod" Misty suggested, she really didn't want to see Metapod but knew that this was important.

"But Metapod won't be able to breed yet, not unless he's evolved while with Professor Oak" Ash thought aloud glancing at Brock who nodded in confirmation.

"Still, we need to go to the Pokémon centre anyway so you could at least check" Brock said walking towards the building the others soon following.

Ash smiled as he looked at all the other Butterfree dancing together. They looked happy, it was nice. He had never really thought about leaving his Pokémon with a breeder, but then when he thought about it that was basically the same as leaving them with Professor Oak. He had been taking care of Metapod for a while now, Ash only saw Metapod if he called up and had a transfer done, so it was essentially the same thing.

As they walked into the centre Ash was still thinking, it was like being on auto-pilot as he ignored Brock's terrible attempt to flirt with Nurse Joy and called Professor Oak. He was only snapped out of it when the elderly man finally appeared on the screen. "Hello Ash, it's been a while, did you call for a particular reason?"

"Hello Professor, I was wondering if Metapod had evolved" Ash explained watching as the old man turned and grabbed a poke ball.

"Sorry Ash but he hasn't, if you want him to evolve he will need more time or to be in battles more often. I would say he's close though, why do you want to know?" he released the Pokémon into his arms moving him so he was more in the screen.

"Hi Metapod" the Pokémon said its own name in response, due to its lack of features it was hard to tell if it was happy or not. "It's great to see you, I was wondering if you've evolved yet because it's some breeding event here and Brock said that if you had evolved you could participate"

The Pokémon began wriggling repeating its name over and over again. "Hn, it appears Metapod might want to go after all" Professor Oak noted getting a nod from the Pokémon in response "Would you like me to make the transfer?"

"Ok, should I send you a Pokémon then?" Ash asked realising that he would have eight Pokémon with him if he didn't.

"That's would be a good idea, can I ask for Clefairy. It's a very rare Pokémon and I would love to study it but unfortunately none of the other trainers have managed to capture one yet" Ash smiled at this, if none of the other trainers had managed to capture one that meant that Gary hadn't managed to capture one which meant he had beaten Gary.

"Ok professor, I'll make the transfer on my end now. Would you like Gyarados as well" he smirked as Professor Oak rushed towards the screen looking like a happy child.

"Do you mean you've done it? You've finally gotten Magikarp to evolve" Ash nodded proudly holding up the ball and making the top go transparent so that Gyarados was visible "It happened when the St Anne sunk, he evolved to save me"

The professor was now bouncing around happily at the news "That's great Ash! I knew you could do it, evolving a Magikarp isn't easy but you did, and in great time too! Would you like to do the transfers now" even as he asked he was already setting up on his end putting in Metapod's poke ball.

"Ok professor, but how long will you want Gyarados for? I have a gym battle coming up so I don't want to have to wait too long" Ash said as he entered in the labs information to the transfer system.

"Don't worry, I just want to have a look, take a sample or two and try to figure something's out it shouldn't take too long" he assured as he started the transfer the poke balls being levitate by electricity into the machine before a single one was deposited. They both checked the balls quickly. "All good on my end"

"Mine too" Ash said looking at his Metapod's ball before releasing him. "I've got to go now bye" Ash turned the call off after Oak said a quick 'bye' as it was quiet clear he wasn't really paying attention to him anymore, the two rare Pokémon in his hands being far more interesting.

Ash turned to see that Misty and Brock were no longer with him. He found them quickly though, as they talked to a tall woman with a pink Butterfree. "Yes it is very rare for this colouring to manifest, that's why I have to ensure that Butterfree only breeds with the best Butterfree around to make the healthiest offspring possible"

The woman had long brown hair tied in a ponytail; she was about thirty and wore a simple outfit.

"Hi guys, I got Metapod" Ash said walking towards them cradling the green Pokémon like a baby.

"Here's Ash" Misty said grabbing the boy and pulling him near so that Metapod was more visible "So, is Metapod good enough?" the woman looked at the green Pokémon appraising and seemed to be genuinely interested as she continued to inspect the Pokémon.

"Metapod is definably in great condition but…I'm sorry, I'm looking for a Butterfree to breed with" She said the Pokémon that was now sitting on her head nodding. Hearing this Ash frowned and was about to say something when he noticed that the Pokémon in his arms had begun to glow.

He then watched in awe as the very shape of his Pokémon changed taking on the form of a Butterfree whilst still glowing, its large powerful wings forming as it let out a joyous cry of victory. "I-I don't believe it" Ash said looking at his newly evolved Pokémon as it approached the pink Butterfree.

The woman just laughed "It's not all that uncommon, every year dozens of trainers bring Metapod's here for them to evolve" Ash nodded watching as his Pokémon began to dance. "Oh, I'm sorry my names Jordon, it's a pleasure to meet you"

Ash shook her extended hand "I'm Ash, your Butterfree's great"

"Thank you, yours is very healthy as well" she watched as her Butterfree continued to stand still while Ash's did everything it could to gain its attention. "But I'm sorry; it appears my Butterfree doesn't want yours as a mate"

"Why not? You just said Butterfree was great" Ash complained watching as his Butterfree sadly flew back.

"If my Butterfree had accepted it they would have danced together, I'm sorry but mating is very serious for Pokémon. It can't be taken lightly" the two Butterfree's parted ways Ash's quickly flying away "I'm sorry I have to go" she waved over her shoulder as she ran after her Pokémon.

Pokémon-Pokémon-Pokémon

Finding Butterfree was hard, he had flown into the woods so they had to look for all the trees searching desperately for their sad companion but they finally found him sitting behind a tree with big wet eyes.

"It was rejected by someone it loves, it's a terrible feeling. I could write a book about the secrets of love and heart ache!" Brock yelled dramatically looking about ready to cry out of sympathy.

"So I guess that book would be your autobiography" Brock deflated and Ash briefly though he would cry out of self-pity.

"Listen up Butterfree, love is all about attacking your opponent first. Get in a quick punch and surprise them, then when there still weak take the lead and you'll beat them hands down. Trust me I know, that's the best way to win" Ash was horrified this, she made love sound like beating someone up. Did that meant Misty had been flirting with him this whole time? He shuddered at the thought.

"You mean it?" Misty nodded proudly "Ah, I wish I knew that sooner" Brock said planning to be even more annoying-or as he saw it romantic-towards women from now on.

Ash decided to just ignore this, he didn't know a lot about love but he now knew that if Misty ever fell in love with him it would be horrible, he really couldn't think of anything scarier at that moment. He rooted in his pocket finding his Pokédex "I bet Dexter can help" typing in the information.

"Dexter has never been in love Ash, he won't be able to help"

"I can help." Dexter said in a monotone Ash shooting Misty a smug look as he pushed Pokémon mating "Pokémon are often attracted to strong Pokémon, one way of gaining a mate would be to show this strength. This should be done by fighting other males, do not fight the desired female as this rarely goes well"

Ash nodded pocketing the device "Great that means all we need is a Pokémon battle"

Pokémon-Pokémon-Pokémon

Finding a battle partner was actually a lot easier than Ash had expected. As soon as they re-entered the village they noticed a large battle field set up with an announcer yelling into his microphone about the battle.

"Today the tenth annual Butterfree village Butterfree tournament will begin, anyone can participate but only Butterfree are can battle" he explained shooting a glare to a trainer who had the audacity to turn up with a Beedrill, naturally this trainer left quickly his head down in shame.

"Well…that's convenient, I'll go sign you up Ash" Brock said surprising Ash; the behaviour was explained quickly though when he saw a beautiful woman was behind the counter.

"Your eyes, there so blue just like how I'm so blue when I'm not with you!" Brock yelled grabbing the woman and crying dramatically as he professed his love for her.

"Misty…this is all, your fault" she opened her mouth to retort, but there was no way this was a coincidence.

"He'll grow out of it" she muttered hopefully as she walked over grabbing the boy by the ear to restrain him. "You're supposed to be getting Ash signed up not hitting on women"

Ash just sighed, his journey just got a little more annoying.

Pokémon-Pokémon-Pokémon

Apparently the tournament wasn't that big, only two rounds before Ash could battle the champion. He got though them with minor difficulty and was soon against his final opponent, the trainer who claimed to be a Butterfree master.

The Butterfree master had dark skin, a deep voice and wore all black. From his shirt to his trousers, his gloves and shoes too, everything was black.

He claimed to be the best Butterfree trainer around; Ash was hoping his claim wasn't accurate though. His Butterfree was now staring down the other waiting for the referee to tell them they could begin. "Battle begin"

"Butterfree use poison powder" Ash commanded watching as his Pokémon began flapping its wings a thick purple cloud coming out of them and heading for the other Pokémon. The other trainer laughed for a second before giving his order.

"Counter with confusion" the powder started glowing blue before being hurled back at Butterfree. He squealed in pain as he fell a little before regaining control and steadying himself.

"Don't give up, try tackle" Butterfree nodded heading straight for the Pokémon, but the Butterfree master didn't give an order. He connected hitting the Pokémon and sending him back but there was still no order. Ash didn't know why he wasn't giving any order, but he knew it wasn't a good sign. He decided to change strategy "Now use gust"

Butterfree flew back a little before beginning to flap its wings to form the powerful air currents "Counter with whirlwind" the Butterfree master's Butterfree nodded flapping its wings much harder and forming a more aggressive wind.

The attack went straight thought Butterfree's overpowering it and heading straight for the Pokémon. But just when it was about to connect Butterfree dodged, gaining gasps from everyone.

Pokémon-Pokémon-Pokémon

On the side-lines Misty was confused by everyone's shock as well. "Why would they be surprised?"

Jordan just smiled noticing the slight blush appearing on her pink Pokémon's face "It's very unusual; Butterfree's gust must have been very powerful to reduce the strength of whirlwind by so much. No other Butterfree has ever been able to avoid the attack, usually it's to large"

Misty nodded looking at the battle again, Ash was still on the defensive but he was hanging in there.

Pokémon-Pokémon-Pokémon

The Butterfree master-Ash still didn't know his name-seemed to be getting excited as he continued to command his Butterfree. He was now mimicking the moves, flapping his arms when his Butterfree flapped his wings and yelling rather than talking.

It was weird to watch. But Ash didn't say anything; he didn't have time to as he was constantly ordering Butterfree. If he stopped focusing for even a second he would be defeated and the Butterfree master would win.

"Butterfree use swift" the master yelled jumping slightly as he did.

"Dive to avoid it" Ash's Pokémon obeyed diving wholeheartedly to avoid the barrage of stars as they flew right to where it had been previously.

"End this, use hyper beam" the attack charge quickly, going straight for Butterfree as it neared the ground.

"Lie flat on the ground" his Pokémon did, going as flat as it could allowing the powerful concentrated energy to pass by it and hit the ground behind it instead "Now before he can recover, sleep powder" Butterfree flew in close, his opponent unable to resist as the powder hit it its eyes drifting shut as it descended to the floor and began to sleep.

"Snore" Ash paused wondering what the strange command was, but he didn't have to for long as a horribly loud noise sounded from the sleeping Pokémon causing everyone even those in the audience to grab their ears in pain and hurting Butterfree greatly.

"Don't give up Butterfree, end this with confusion" the enemy Butterfree glowed blue in sync with Ash's Butterfree's eyes as it was lifted from the ground.

"Sleep talk now" his Pokémon started moving, its eyes glowing pink as a powerful moved formed. It looked straight at Butterfree as the powerful Psybeam formed as pink light heading straight for Ash's defenceless Pokémon.

It hit Butterfree right in the chest, ending the confusion attack and sending him to the ground. His emergency recall didn't activate, but that didn't matter. It was clear the battle was over. Ash walked onto the stage to check on the Pokémon hearing the referee announces the Butterfree master as the winner as he did so.

"You were great Butterfree, you should be very proud" the Pokémon didn't look it though as it continue to lie still looking sad.

"You really were great" a deep powerful voice said, Ash looked up to see the source of the voice was the Butterfree master. "Such a close battle is very unusual, it's truly miraculous" he said leaning down to look at Ash's Butterfree.

The crowd was applauding loudly, pleased by the mutual respect of the two trainers. It was so loud that Ash didn't notice his friends approaching until a hand on his shoulder made him. He turned to see it was Mist who was looking down at his sympathetically. "That was great Ash; I really thought you would win for a second"

Ash nodded but didn't say anything; he didn't know what he should say at a moment like this. Then he noticed that the pink Butterfree was still there, now sitting next to Ash's and saying something he didn't understand. "It appears that someone made an impression"

Ash was confused by this "Butterfree did great, but I thought he would have to win to prove he was strong enough"

The Butterfree master laughed whole-heartedly at this, his large chest bouncing as he did. "Beating me with a Butterfree that evolved so recently is near enough impossible. You doing so well showed that your Butterfree is an extremely powerful one. Her Butterfree should be attracted to it, mine has already began to breed after all"

Jordan nodded smiling as Ash's Butterfree and hers began to do the courtship dance together showing that they had accepted each other as their mates. The announcer then walked onto the stage, raising the Butterfree masters hand into the air.

"This year's winner is the Butterfree master; his prize will be a year's supply of specially formulated Butterfree food" he announced before grabbing Ash who had been ready to walk off the field "And in second place is Ash Ketchum, who put up a great battle, let's hear it for them folks"

Pokémon-Pokémon-Pokémon

Ash, Brock and Misty now stood outside Jordan house; it was a small pink house with lots of Butterfree flying around it and a nice well maintained front garden. His Butterfree was standing next to its new mate with tears in its eyes.

"Take good care of Butterfree for me ok" Ash said handing the woman the poke ball she just nodded simply before taking a step back to give him some space "Butterfree, this is no different than being at Professor Oak's lab. We'll see each other again soon"

It was weird, Butterfree nodded and Ash felt like he was telling the truth. But they both still had watery eyes. He and Jordan had already agreed to make transfers for battle and at any other time when Ash needed Butterfree. But it still felt different.

It was different. When he left a Pokémon with Professor Oak it was more a case of leaving them there until the end of Ash's journey. There was always the knowledge that, once Ash had become a master he would see them again. But now, with Butterfree it was different. Even when it was all over they wouldn't be seeing each other very often as he would be staying with his mate.

A tear travelled down his face as Butterfree stood next to his mate tears already streaming down his face. "I'm going to miss you a lot" Ash admitted hugging the Pokémon "But this is something you have to do, I want you to have babies and be happy so if this is the only way to do that then so be it"

They both tried to be brave, to help each other though it but it wasn't working. The female pink Butterfree stepped forward saying something to Butterfree making him stop crying. Ash chose this moment to stand. Jordan stepped forward again, smiling at Ash softly.

"Don't worry, I'll take great care of your Butterfree" she said ignoring Ash's sad expression. "I'll even give you a call when the Caterpie are out, and send you lots of pictures too" Ash nodded watching as she then turned walking back into the house's doorway the two Butterfree following.

"I'm going to miss you a lot Butterfree" Ash said waving as he walked through the gate to try to catch up to his friends. He wiped away the single tear that had escaped and smiled as he continued waving to his Pokémon "I'll never forget you"

It wasn't long until they were out of sight and they stopped the goodbye. Ash's arms fell to his side limply at this. He sighed sadly as memories of Butterfree went through his mind, some from when he was just a little Caterpie all the way to when he became a Butterfree.

As he remembered he felt something grab his hand, he looked down to see another small hand now entwined with his. When he followed it to the source he saw Misty, she smiled softly at him and continued to walk. No words of comfort were needed, the simple reminder of her presence enough to act as comfort to Ash.

Brock saw this and smiled, deciding to remain silent and keep his distance for a while. He would definitely bring this up later, but for now he decided to leave it and just let Ash be happy for a while.

Pokémon-Pokémon-Pokémon

Ash and his friends now stood outside Saffron City gym, a gym that was believed to be very difficult. Ash knocked on the door, only for it to open on its own. He looked to Brock and Misty but they just shrugged so they walked in.

"Ash, this is one of the highest ranked gyms. Are you sure trying to get your forth gym badge here is such a good idea?" Brock question looking around nervously, they still hadn't seen anyone and it was giving him the creeps.

"How can I become a powerful trainer if I'm too scared to battle strong opponents?" Ash countered still walking down the incredibly long hallway searching for anyone but they were now running out of light.

"A brave one …just as my vision foretold" they all looked around for the source of the voice but couldn't see the source, it sounded like it was coming from everywhere at once. "Do not be alarmed" they suddenly felt a weird sensation before everything disappeared quickly benign replaced by what appeared to be a kitchen.

A teenager with dark hair in a kimono stepped forward "Would you like something to eat? I can sense your all very hungry" this put everyone on edge, her knowing this was every unnatural so no one trusted it…except Ash.

"That would be great" he accepted the bowl of rice and began eating happily "Thank you, this is delicious" she giggled slightly when Brock and Misty balked, shocked by Ash's stupidity.

"Ash you shouldn't accept food from strangers, it could be poisoned!" Misty felt the strange woman's gaze on her "Although you seem very nice, so I guess its ok" she drifted off awkwardly taking a seat next to Ash but deliberately not eating.

"So, I'm guessing you're the gym leader" Ash said still eating but glancing up to look at her.

"Yes" she paused for a second before talking "I am the gym leader the man you spoke to described" Ash looked up at her in shock "Yes I did just read your mind, sorry I have a habit to do that it's a little hard to turn off. Your mind was particularly easy to read as well"

Misty chuckled pushing Ash's shoulder to get his attention "Heh, I bet it's because there's nothing going on inside that big empty head huh" Ash frowned shooting her a weak glare before continuing to eat.

"Usually how easy it is to read the mind of someone is linked to psychic skill, most people are easy to read because they have no trained but Ash is partially easy, there was no resistance at all" she explained sitting and eating a little herself. "Oh, I forgot the soy source" she raised her hand in the air and it promptly appeared "Oh dear, you must think I'm a total flake"

Ash just chuckled taking it and pouring some onto his food as she laughed too. "Yes I am a psychic trainer, a good assumption" she responded to Ash's thought before he could say them "Yes I do have other powers, sometimes I can see the future. In fact just recently I had a vision of a handsome trainer coming to me to help him learn about his psychic powers; unfortunately no handsome travellers have arrived yet"

She looked at the sour expression on Ash's face and noticed Brocks matched "Oh, um…I meant no handsome travellers closer to my age, you're a couple years to old Brock and Ash is too young" she explained awkwardly not making eye contact.

Brock nodded, she had a point. He was quiet visibly older than her, not to mention he always had a taste for older women. She clearly was attractive but he felt he would get on better with a Nurse Joy or Officer Jenny; mature women were definitely his dream.

Sabrina wished she couldn't read minds as she was bombarded by Brocks perverted thoughts one after the other scaring her slightly "Brock you do remember that I can read minds right?"

His thoughts stopped dead as he turned blushing "Oh, uh...you didn't see anything to bad right" he asked his thoughts now pure screaming. She just nodded before turning her attention back to Ash.

"I would be happy to have a gym battle" Ash smiled, he was getting more and more comfortable with her reading his mind so it didn't bother him to much, he just had to be careful what he thought so he didn't have an experience like Brock just had.

Pokémon-Pokémon-Pokémon

They now stood on opposite ends of the battle field in raised trainer's boxes. Ash had called Professor Oak and had Gyarados returned so was using him in his first gym battle since his evolution while she used a Kadabra.

"Kadabra, a Psychic Pokémon. The evolved form of Abra. It employs powerful telekinetic attacks." That was apparently all the Pokédex knew but Ash didn't mind.

"Ok, Gyarados start off with bite" the large sea serpent launched forward jaws ready heading headfirst for he opponent. But must when it looked like it was going to make contact Kadabra disappeared causing Gyarados to hit into the floor hard. "Teleport huh, ok in that case try hydro pump attack"

Gyarados turned effortlessly shooting a powerful torrent of water at the psychic type Pokémon, but instead of teleporting out the way like Ash expected instead Kadabra raised his hands forming a blue aura around the attack and sending it back at Gyarados. "Gyarados quick hydro pump again"

But, once again Ash's plan failed, as Kadabra and Gyarados both began to glow blue, making Gyarados unable to protect itself from its own attack that connected perfectly throwing Gyarados into the air roughly.

"Gyarados are you ok?" the giant Pokémon tried to stand again but the blue glow wasn't gone and it was once again force to the ground. "Gyarados return, you were great…next time I'll just need to place a little better" Ash said to the ball where his injured Pokémon rested.

Pokémon-Pokémon-Pokémon

Ash now sat at the dining table with Sabrina and his 'friends' one of which seemed to have made it her mission to mock him. They were eating a nice meal, rice and some other basics that Sabrina had made with the help of Brock it really would be nice if it wasn't for Brock.

"You really shouldn't feel too bad, psychic Pokémon are very rare and are no easy to battle against" Sabrina consoled as she ate her rice a small calm smile of on her features. "Perhaps you should stay at the gym for a while; by watching other trainers lose you may be able to come up with a better strategy"

Ash grinned slightly "I would rather see trainers win" he pointed out and was surprised when she started laughing.

"Ash, I'm the second highest ranked gym. Since the beginning of this year I've given out eight gym badges, other than that I always win" she explained-bragged-as she ate.

Ash couldn't believe it "You've lost eight times"

She shook her head and he smiled "One of them was a draw but since the trainer tried to hard I gave him the badge, so I've only really lost seven times" Ash face-palmed, that was not the answer he was hoping for.

"We told you that gym rankings are important Ash, Lt Surge is the highest rank you've beaten so far and he's only in the top thirty percent" Brock said reading a little book that probably had all the rankings. "Maybe you should try a lower ranking gym"

Ash frowned "I'm not going to just battle the lowest ranked gym"

"You already have" he quirked and eyebrow at this combined with Misty's fearful expression "Based on the most recent results Cerulean is in last place, probably because they give away so many badges" Brock explained showing Ash the book. He looked up at Misty and grinned.

"This isn't my fault my sisters run the gym" he continued grinning shaking his head as well for emphasis "If I was in charge my gym would be the top, no question" she crossed her arms and huffing but Ash just kept grinning.

Sabrina giggled at the antics of the childish duo before standing up and turning to face her assistant "Excuse me, I believe I have a phone call" the assistant nodded "Thank you I'll get it now" she walked out grabbing the phone. When she answered the phone she was shocked by what she heard that 'it' was back.

"I'll be there as soon as I can"

Pokémon-Pokémon-Pokémon

A week later Ash and his friends were at the hospital, they weren't there because they were injured. They were there because Sabrina had been found injured and taken to the hospital and was now in a coma.

"What happened to her?" Ash asked his eyes completely focused on her.

"Sabrina has fallen victim to the dream eater attack" a man in military fatigues with blond hair told them. "She was trying to protect us" he gestured to the rest of the group who were dressed similarly.

"You see, there a powerful Gengar in this area call Black Fog. It appeared suddenly about a year ago, it suddenly appears steals the souls of its victims and then it's gone" the man who was presumably the leader explained.

"Many have given up fighting it; they view it as a natural disaster like a hurricane. But we aren't ready to give up yet; we made a vow to keep fighting till the bitter end. Sabrina made the same vow a year ago, when Black Fog killed all her Pokémon"

Ash looked at Sabrina, the girl who had been so nice to him this whole time. She looked so peaceful, so calm now that she was recovering. 'I can't believe that such a sweet girl could be so consumed by desire for revenge'

A pen beside Sabrina began moving at writing on a piece of paper 'Lavender town' as her Abra focused. "It's Sabrina, she communicating though telepathy" the leader said holding the pad "She telling us where to find Black Fog"

"If she's able to use telepathy that must mean she's still alive right?" Ash asked looking towards the man hopefully.

"One man was brought back from a dream eater attack five days after it occurred, but the Pokémon had to be defeated first. Since Sabrina's a psychic that must mean she has a better chance than normal"

Ash smiled throwing his fist in the air "Great, so all we've got to do is catch Black Fog"

Brock grabbed him angrily "Don't be such an idiot, you can't catch a Pokémon like that"

Ash lowered his hat a little "Well, it's a Pokémon right. So to catch it all we need is a really good poke ball" Brock was about to yell some more but was cut off by the laughter of the captain.

"I can't believe we never thought of that, it is a Pokémon so we should be able to capture it. Theoretically at least" Ash smiled, they were going to save Sabrina. He would save Sabrina no matter what it took.

Even if the only way to save her was by capturing Black Fog he would do it.

A/N

So this is another part that is based on electric tales rather than the anime, this is mainly because the anime and most manga's have Sabrina be evil so I thought I would follow the less common electric tales version of her where she nice-although I made her a little less nice.

Review response

Guest: don't worry I haven't forgotten about Black Magikarp, now that he's evolved he will be Ash's main/strongest Pokémon, it's just hard to find situation where it would be even somewhat appropriate to use a Magikarp

Noshadowone: Thank you for all the feedback, Team Rocket will be captured quiet often. But one thing a lot of stories over look is that they get captured in the anime a few times as well, they suck as Pokémon thieves but are at least decent escape artistes (They are also decent thieves of other things although it is rarely shown).

I'm glad you like some of the other changes like Forrest and Paras; sometimes I change things with the aim ending at being different. The less in common with the norm the more interesting it will be (I hope).

Team Rocket will be getting worse and worse, they aren't going to be minor villainous group with another taking over although others do exist (Obviously) I'm actually a little surprised at the idea of them being viewed as just thieves, I thought it they were viewed as terrorists in all media (The anime tones it down but it's still there) but I suppose each author decided for himself.

Like the idea for Meowth, but I'm not sure yet…it may not be possible to fit it organically, not sure what would happen when it evolved a Persian on two legs would look weird.

The idea of Pokémon sharing was more to improve them as trainers so they work with more Pokémon don't worry, Ash won't be fighting any gym battles with Starmie and Misty will be very independent as well. This way just ensures that they both grow better; Squirtle might be used by Ash. I do have a question though, why would a trainer be able to bond with multiple Pokémon when a Pokémon can't bond with multiple trainers? Sometimes Ash may use her Pokémon in other circumstances (If she isn't able to) the advantage of Pokémon sharing he'll be able to use them effectively but again I'll try to not have this happen too often. This was just another thing that I haven't seen done before so I tried it, it also annoyed me how Ash was so rude to Misty when she offered in canon.

Venusaur will appear but much later, Ash has recently gained two very powerful Pokémon and I don't want him to grow too much too fast and become unstoppable like he is in some stories (He's still got a lot of failures in his future, like Sabrina and the 'Butterfree master (I know I can't do name)' beating him in this chapter) but I have a question Venusaur or Meganium, I like Meganium since it comes from Chikorita which was one of my favourite Ash Pokémon just because it's so embarrassing when it goes to cuddle him rather than fight.

Rin'negan Naruto: Hmm, good point…since everyone was so neutral with regard to this decided to keep them alive but they will only appear when it's interesting (So not hugely often)

QUEENSPELLER67: I have gone back and fixed the errors, thanks for pointing them out although the 'streaker' thing was deliberate Ash makes the same mistake in the episode where he catches Muk so I thought it would be a good embarrassing thing for him to say. Don't worry about Giselle there are no major plans for her right now, I find her annoying too but in the electric tales they are shown together somewhere so I thought that they might be travelling together.

Thank you to all my reviews and please continue to review with opinions good or bad so I can improve the story or just a simple 'good chapter' is very motivating too. Also your thoughts on the change to Butterfree's leaving-although it's not truly gone it's about the same as with Charizard- and everything else that has happened in this chapter would be appreciated.


	15. Black Fog

It didn't take long to arrive in Lavender town. It was an ancient settlement that's older than history can remember, and in the centre of this ancient town was the equally old Pokémon tower. Reports said that Black Fog now resided in the Pokémon tower with many other ghost-types preventing anyone from being able to get in.

Ash was now looking at the ball the captain-who was named Captain Ectoplasma-, was showing him the ball. It looked so ordinary; it was the same size as a normal ball and even had the same colouring. Apparently they had to make it in a rush, so they hadn't bother with the usual change to the colours. Its capture net was far stronger than even that of an ultra-ball-Ash had brought one for this event anyway just in case.

The ultra-ball cost all of Ash's money and really he was hoping not to have to use it, but that didn't matter. What mattered was saving Sabrina, he didn't want her to die because he wasn't strong enough as a trainer.

"Black Fog could be anywhere inside the building, we'll have to split up to search. As soon as you find him call me and I'll come with the special ball, only engage in battle if you have too" Ash nodded thinking about his team, he had made some exchanges with Professor Oak with the hope of improving the line up to be the strongest he had. But he still wasn't sure what would be best against Black Fog.

Pokémon-Pokémon-Pokémon

Elsewhere in the building a different trio was skulking around looking to capture Pokémon themselves. They had been following Ash planning to take him off guard but and steal all his Pokémon, but they ended up losing him when he suddenly turned in to a Gastly and flew away.

Now they were in a very small room that acted as a ledge overlooking a group of Gastly. The ledge was made of large grey cuboid stones that lined the floors and walls; aside from this there really wasn't much to look at aside from the Gastly.

"I think we should leave, find da twerp and get back to stealing his Pokémon" Meowth said pointing dramatically, he had always been the de facto leader of sorts so he knew he had to take command.

Jessie smacked the cat into the ground hard "Don't tell us what to do! I'm in charge here and I say we go for these Gastly, Black Fog is great and all but if we give the boss a hundred Gastly that'll be really impressive"

James jumped up at this clapping "Really Jessie? Do you really think we can do it?"

Jessie smiled smugly leaning against a large rock and looking down at the ghost Pokémon, they were just floating around the big empty room doing nothing, and there wasn't much in the room to get in the way either. It would be a piece of cake.

"Of course" she looked up proudly not noticing that they were still looking at her, until they continued to do it "Stop staring at me and think of a plan already" she yelled being a born leader she knew when the time to delegate was and now was that time.

"Hmm" the two morons Jessie was forced to work with sad on unison both rubbing their chins as if in deep thought, but she knew that was impossible. They weren't capable of deep thought.

"How about…" Meowth started before snapping his fingers proudly "We use a net"

They looked at him dryly "You want us"

"To use the same plan that always fails" James finished sweat dropping at Meowth's stupidity.

"That plan only fails because da twerps always cut the net dig, but Gastly don't have any hands" he explained proudly reaching into a bag and producing a net.

Jessie and James continued staring at him thinking about his logic, it was quiet clearly genius. The type of logic and reasoning that would take most normal people years to understand, but they weren't normal people. They Team Rocket, the best of the best! No logic is too great for them to understand!

"Let's do it"

Pokémon-Pokémon-Pokémon

They had rigged the net and everything was ready. All they had to do was deploy it and they would have captured all the Pokémon. Now they just needed to wait for all the Pokémon to get into the centre of the room-getting big nets was expensive!

Down below the Gastly seemed unaware, they just floated about aimlessly. Every time one would go to the centre another would leave and they would have to wait even longer. "Damn it, don't they realise how much effort this took? They should just hurry up and be captured already"

James sighed "Jessie, I really don't think that they'll agree with you. We could always just capture a few, the boss would definitely be happy with ten or twenty adding the stragglers would be pointless" he said his mind promptly drifting off to what it would be like when the boss heard of their success and rewarded them.

This was cut off by a short sharp punch to the head. "Don't be an idiot James, Pokémon have no value if you don't capture them in bulk" he sighed; he didn't know if she was right or not but it made no difference. She always got her way.

He returned to looking down at the Gastly. They sure were strange; they were just floating heads with poisonous gas coming out of them. Not really his kind of Pokémon. Then a flash of gold caught his eye, his training to respond to the colour even when dull to help find bottle caps kicking in.

Then he saw it, the most beautiful vintage bottle cap he had seen in months. It was in the beak of a bird Pokémon though. The avian Pokémon had black feathers. Its crooked, yellow beak and the three, feathery tufts on its head resemble a witch's nose and hat respectively. It also had a large powerful feathery crest. It has semi-circular, red eyes with white sclera and pupils and a spiky collar of feathers around its neck. The shaggy feathers on its tail resemble the end of a broom, and there is a thin, red band at the base of the tail. Its yellow feet have four toes, three facing forward and one backward.

But strangely enough the Gastly didn't seem to be impressed with it. It was more like the opposite actually as they all started crowding around it yelling loudly. "Meowth what's going on?" James demanded noticing that there was now no Pokémon under their net.

"From what I can tell…there saying 'get out, your kind is aloud around here' kind of harsh if you ask me" he said still watching them as they continued to yell.

"Well we didn't ask you, it doesn't matter. What matters is getting those Gastly under the net" Jessie said not caring about the Pokémon at all. "What we need is some kind of decoy, an idiot to send out there to get them in position"

James nodded, that was a great idea. He missed the evil look Jessie and Meowth were giving him.

Pokémon-Pokémon-Pokémon

James now stood in the centre of the room on a slightly raised platform. He had managed to get on without being noticed since they were still yelling at Murkrow but it wasn't going to last. He then did as he was ordered; cursing his 'friends' for making his do it every step of the way.

"Hey Gastly, you smell so bad it's like poison" he yelled the first insult that came to mind getting their attention. Murkrow looked at him, tears in her eyes as she eyed her saviour. "Yeah come get some, try picking on someone several times bigger that you"

They did, quiet happily rush him. All surrounding him in seconds in a tight circle "Alright guys, I gather them. Now how do I get out of here" James whined panicked as he noticed the evil looks they were giving him.

"Um, about that Jimmy…" Meowth started awkwardly.

"You don't" Jessie pulled the switch dropping the net trapping James with all the angry Gastly.

"Murkrow" the female bird called amazed at his bravery, he had sacrificed himself just to save her. He was a hero! He started screaming in panic, several Gastly licking places that he didn't want licked.

But Jessie and Meowth didn't care. They had won, really won. That was all that really mattered. "I can't believe it, their completely helpless. Now we just have to deliver them to the boo-"

"Gastly" several of the ghost Pokémon yelled floating up to them, they weren't even being slowed down by the net "Ghastly-ghastly"

"Ahh" the duo cried promptly turning tail and running not even trying to save James, the Gastly had left him alone but he was still trapped in the net.

He pawed at it, trying to shift it off of him but couldn't. "So this is what it feels like to be a twerp" James thought aloud looking at nothing in particular. He then noticed Murkrow flying towards him.

"Murkrow murk" it said in a high pitch voice dancing about in the air.

"Oh, hello I'm James. It's nice to meet you" he tried to extend his hand for a shake but stopped due to the net, Murkrow wouldn't have been able to shake either way but she appreciated the gesture.

"Murkrow" the dark type's whole body glowed blue as it summoned its psychic energies to lift he net. It did so with ease lifting it and throwing it away freeing her blue haired saviour. "Murkrow" she floated over nuzzling happily accepting his praise.

"That's really impressive, your very strong and cute too" the black Pokémon blushed deep red at this "Well I guess we both should be going, don't want those Gastly returning and finding us do we" Murkrow nodded excitedly following the man as he made his way out of the Lavender tower.

Neither knew it, but they were very lucky to leave when they did, as soon as they got outside they were shocked to see the building shaking to its very foundation due to a powerful explosion.

Pokémon-Pokémon-Pokémon

When they went into the tower they were split into groups, Ash got Brock and Misty while the others went the other way. He hoped this would go alright; after all he only had to find Black Fog and then call up the captain so he could come on with the special poke ball. "What could possibly go wrong?"

"Please stop saying that Ash, it just makes it more obvious that something will go wrong" Misty huffed walking stiffly but Ash ignored her.

"This place is huge, and we haven't even seen a single ghost Pokémon yet so we might not even be the ones to find Black Fog"

They entered a large room that was clearly in disrepair. The ceiling had caved in providing the only source of light and rocks lay about the room haphazardly. Ash turned to Misty "Nothing to say, that's new"

She turned grinning widely and creepily "Gastly, Gastly" Ash looked at Misty confused only getting more confused when she began glowing slightly before turning into Gastly. "Gastly gash-hast-hast-hast" it laughed floating away happily.

"Misty, Misty where are you?" Ash spun in a circle to take in all his surroundings but was unable to find the red head.

"Don't worry Ash, I'll radio her now" Brock said putting his bag down and getting off his radio "Misty we just found out you're a Gastly"

There was a brief paused before the radio came to life "Yeah, that happened to me too. You guys wait up I should be able to use the trackers to get to you…" Brock waited awkwardly for a bit before speaking.

"Got it Misty, by the way the captain told us earlier you have to push the button to stop speaking too" Ash snickered and knowing that wherever she was Misty was growling in irritation.

It ended up being quiet easy to find Black Fog, Ash didn't know why this surprised him after all Black Fog was huge so the list of places he could be was cut in half due to his size. He didn't respond to their arrival into the room well, despite their relatively hidden position he seemed to notice them instantly getting up and spinning with rage written clearly on his features.

"We've got to battle smart" he remembered back to his battle with Team Rocket, he threw out everyone he had but then couldn't control them. This time he wouldn't make that mistake. "Gyarados, Charmeleon time for battle"

"Geodude, Onix" Brock yelled releasing the Pokémon he had transferred just for this occasion. "I'm goanna send the signal to captain Ectoplasma"

Black Fog now noticed them, turning his giant body around revealing himself to them fully. He had a purple body, arms and legs but no defined feat or hands. His face had a huge crazed smile, a small red orb was embedded in his forehead glowing brightly as he looked at them.

Ash responded instantly "Gyarados bite, Charmeleon flamethrower to give him cover" Gyarados launched forward as the flames shot out, but Black Fog ignored them moving right through them to intercept Gyarados and slam him to the ground.

"Onix quick use bind attack" Brock commanded pointing to the large Pokémon, but before Onix could make contact he along with all the other Pokémon present were surrounded by a blue aura throwing them into the wall.

"Argh, not this again" Ash thought seeing his Pokémon struggle "Paras now stun spore" the small Pokémon appeared shaking its back to release the powder. It looked like it was going to make contact before Black Fog turned and its psychic stopped the spore as well.

"It shouldn't be so strong, this isn't natural" Brock yelled Kadabra soon teleporting into the room. The blue aura surrounding the Pokémon then faded as its eyes glowed a bright blue "Amazing, Kadabra neutralised the psychic attacks"

All the Pokémon fell to the ground roughly; they began crawling back up fury in their eyes as they looked at their opponent.

The now freed Pokémon launched forward once again, Charmeleon and Gyarados going for a joint assault. The giant Gengar responded instantly shooting a powerful dark crimson beam at the approaching duo. "Charmeleon, counter it with flamethrower so Gyarados can get in close"

Charmeleon's powerful fire type attack held the ghost type attack off, allowing Gyarados to fly in close to Black Fog's face "Now hydro pump" the torrent of water shot from the sea serpents mouth heading straight for Black Fog at point blank range.

But it never got to connect.

It was countered by another night shade the one countering Charmeleon's attack still going. "This is unbelievable, somehow it can use to attacks at once" Ash Pokémon were soon over powered being thrown back like they were nothing.

"Geodude, Onix use rock throw" the large rock snake and the floating rock began hurling rocks from around the room at the giant ghost-type but the attacks repelling Black Fog just barley allowing Gyarados and Charmeleon to fall back.

"Black Fog your mine" a voice yelled as footsteps approached from the hallway, knowing that they had stalled long enough Ash recalled his Pokémon and watched as the ball was thrown at the Pokémon spewing forth red light and sucking it in capturing it successfully.

Or so it seemed, there celebration was cut short by a powerful explosion that destroyed the poke ball and shook the building to its foundations. "He escaped" Black Fog now loomed over them looking ready to kill with a powerful red aura. "Gastly go" the man yelled throwing out the ghost type. "Use hypnosis"

"Gastly-Gastly" its eyes started swirling as it looked at the much larger Pokémon planning to defeat it so it can go to sleep.

"If we weaken it enough it may be possible to capture it with an ordinary poke ball" Ash thought aloud grabbing Gyarados's poke ball again "Gyarados, we need to try again. This time try-ark" Ash and the others screamed in horror as a powerful shadow ball hit Gastly and the ground they were standing on sending them in all directions.

Ash landed hard, he rolled a little absorbing some of the impact but it still hurt. It hurt a lot. He looked over to see that Gyarados was once again attempting to engage Black Fog shooting a powerful hydro pump at him only for it to be reflected by a night shade.

He turned to look at Brock, he seemed to be ok. The only problem was that he and the captain had been flung up onto a platform. "Are you guys ok?" Ash asked he couldn't really see what was up there so he didn't know the situation.

"We'll be fine, but I don't think Brock can battle anymore" the captain turned to Brocks unconscious body "There's an exit we'll take, you should leave as well" Ash nodded grabbing his poke ball and preparing to recall Gyarados as the captain grabbed Brock and made his way for the exit.

But Ash never got the chance as Gyarados was flung out of the way of the beam of red light by a powerful physical attack before dropping to the ground "Gyarados!" Ash raced towards his fallen Pokémon ready to return him, he didn't get to though.

Gyarados got straight back up looking stronger if anything and charged for the unstoppable Pokémon. Ash was shocked; Gyarados just kept fighting even though it was hopeless. He and Kadabra were both giving their all yet they barley succeeding in holding him off.

Ash looked up and noticed that Brock and the captain were gone, but could he really leave. He knew that if he didn't capture Black Fog Sabrina would be killed; he refused to let that happen.

Kadabra was clearly struggling, using its full power boasted by Sabrina's to counter Black Fog's physic and teleport out of the way of the many attacks directed at it. Unfortunately despite its good defence Kadabra was unable to cause any real damage since Black Fog was so powerful. There was no way that Gyarados and Kadabra would be enough.

"Charmeleon jump on Fearow's back, work together to fight Black Fog" Ash commanded throwing out the two Pokémon.

They sprang into action, Charmeleon riding the other Pokémon confidently as they flew up. "Support Gyarados, Fearow fly as fast as you can around Black Fog so he can't hit you. Charmeleon hit Black Fog with everything you can"

The Pokémon nodded Fearow taking off at full speed as if Charmeleon didn't weigh anything and flying circles around Black Fog. Charmeleon used his newly gained aerial advantage to shoot numerous ranged attacks at the behemoth allowing Gyarados to fall back away from his attacks.

Kadabra was also still going strong; cancelling out Black Fog's psychic every time he tried to use it to defend himself allowing the group to successfully get some hits in. "Gyarados dragon rage now" the black Pokémon quickly formed the attack in its large mouth, the yellow ball of light bigger than ever before as it fired at the powerful Pokémon.

It connected with a powerful explosion and for the first time it appeared Black Fog was hurt. It fell back, crashing into the walls from the shock of the attack the large bricks falling on the downed Pokémon. "Now I've caught you, great ball go" Ash threw the ball as hard as he could it connecting with the large Pokémon and it was once again sucked up by red light.

He watched as the ball shook once…twice…three times…then the light flashed and it…exploded. The ball shattering into pieces that flew around the room as Black Fog came in a flash of light looking even angrier than before.

"Damn Fearow quick fall back" but before the command could even be registered Black Fog had shot a powerful night shade attack at the proud bird and its companion. Seeing the danger Fearow reacting instinctively, opening its beak and releasing a small spark.

The spark grew bigger and more powerful until it began to look like the beam of black light. They connected in the middle exploding powerfully throwing everyone back once more. The explosion shook the already damaged building causing the ceiling above the Pokémon to collapse rocks everywhere. Fearow tried to avoid them but soon his wing was clipped and he fell to the ground, hard.

Ash didn't even think about what he did next, it was only natural. He ran forward as fast as he could to check on his Pokémon, he reached Gyarados first since he was furthest from the attack he didn't seem to have sustained any real injuries and hadn't been hit by any rocks. But Charmeleon and Fearow were a different story.

The rock that had clipped Fearow's wing was still on top of it. Both of the Pokémon were covered in bruises and looked to be severely injured, clearly they couldn't go on any further. He returned them both, it was the only thing he really could do and turned to the now unconscious Black Fog.

He was glad Gyarados was still out, flanking him for protection as he approached the large ghost type. He noticed that the red orb, the one that had been glowing brightly this whole time was still sticking out of its head.

What happened next was weird.

Ash knew he should be more focused on catching Black Fog, doing so would ensure Sabrina's safety if defeating him hadn't already. But for some reason he felt a strange desire to touch the orb. It was like some little voice in his mind was commanding him, controlling him, forcing him to touch the red glowing orb.

He reached out slowly, his arm aching strangely as he neared the ethereal object. As he got closer it felt like his hand was being pushed away, as if some strange force didn't want him to touch the orb. But he kept going all the same.

Then he made contact.

He was suddenly assaulted by visions, one after the other of a Haunter. They were fast and out of focus, with no sound making it very hard to get any real detail. At first these visions seemed to be happy visions, it was simply playing with other Haunter and Gastly in what he assumed was Lavender tower.

But this didn't last long. In the next vision he saw strange men dressed in black each with a big red 'r' on their shirts breaking in. The Haunter tried to battle them, but it was futile. They easily over powered the ghost type and captured it.

The visions didn't end there though. Instead they only got worse, changing to that Haunter being experimented on. It appeared to be larger than average as they made it fight other seemingly miniature Haunter's one after the other. During all the battles scientists would be observing Haunter, making notes and occasionally giving it strange items. Some made it stronger while others made it writhe in pain. Some were injected while others were just held.

But one in particular stood out. Finally a tall scientist with dark black hair a slight hunch back and a lab coat came forward with it. The only object that Ash had recognised so far, it appeared different but there was no denying that it was the same thing.

The red orb was in the scientist's hand. He thrust it into the Haunter's head roughly, the creature growing bigger with more defined features. Then it started to glow, a strange white and red colour as the energy was forced into it.

The transformation wasn't quick like normal evolutions though. Even though Ash had seen everything up till now at an increased speed this was slow. It was painful to watch as the Pokémon's body was forced to slowly and painfully change. Out of instinct Ash tried to intervene but found he had no body.

This was the first time he realised that he was completely helpless, a mere spectator to the event unfolding before him. The evolution continued unimpeded and slowly it became clear what Haunter was evolving into, it was evolving into a Gengar. It was evolving into Black Fog.

After it was over Ash then felt something new happen, a strange sense of connection as he felt Black Fog's pain. The pain of the red orb was unbelievable. It all came from his head-he couldn't be sure if it was from somewhere specific because there was so much-but soon it began radiating to the rest of his body.

He started shaking uncontrollably, the pain unbelievable as it surged throw him like acid in his veins. Every muscle in his body was screaming at him to end the pain, every fibre of his body begging for it to be over. He didn't care how he just wanted it gone.

He now realised that this was how Black Fog felt all the time. The Pokémon that had been doing so much evil had been in this pain, this uncontrollable mind numbing pain. It was sad really, that it had been accused of being evil when in reality it was just scared. Team Rocket had tortured it by forcing it to take the red orb so now it was afraid of humans. The real villain was Team Rocket; they had to pay…somehow.

That was Ash's last thought before everything went black.

A/N

This is a little shorter than the previous ones but I thought now was a good place to stop. What do you think of James getting a Pokémon that's different from canon, I noticed lots of people say they'll give them new Pokémon and then some end up forgetting too (Admittedly I haven't been reading long but still I haven't found a single story with them having a different Pokémon)

Also I've decided to use polls to decide something's, first off is what he average chapter length should be, I hate inconsistency and I noticed that the average length went from about 1000 words to 10000 words so it annoys me, polls on my profile

QUEENSPELLER67: yeah, I originally planned to respond only with PM's but guest reviews made that difficult, like the guess of Electabuzz for Lt Surge I had planned on his but changed my mind near the end

Truth Is What You Make Of It: Evolution is one of my favourite things about Pokémon, I never understood why some people dislike the idea I view it as basically growing up so not doing it is like being an 9 year old who says they'll stay that way forever.

**List of Pokémon – Ash the ones that are not in bold are ones that he no longer owns due to evolution, trade or other reasons **

**Ash**

**Charmeleon**

Caterpie

Metapod

**Butterfree-Breeding**

_Weedle_

Kakuna

**Beedrill**

**Fearow**

**Clefairy**

**Paras**

**Krabby**

**Magikarp * 10**

**Gyarados**

Please continue to review and please also visit my polls that'll be used to decided several things in story, there will also be one for if I should acknowledge fairy type, mega evolution, if legendary Pokémon are one of a kind and some other things so please vote


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